


Set Fire To My Soul & I'll Burn A Little Brighter Baby

by PastelMess



Series: Light A Match [2]
Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Possessive Behavior, Superpowers, bring on the angst!!!, cause there is a LOT, mild violence, occassional blood, probably just a little bit - not as much as last time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2018-11-14 22:18:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 73,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11217366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelMess/pseuds/PastelMess
Summary: Four years ago, Josh's life was changed for good by a building full of people with superpowers and a man with paint covered hands.Four years ago, Josh was kidnapped, experimented on, and watched as his friends, his family, came to his rescue to stop Brent and get him home safely.They thought they were safe, that after so long, life could return to normal. But tensions are high, weird stuff is going on, people aren't feeling safe-- and it seems that this building full of people with superpowers are the only ones that can solve the problem.





	1. The Gang's Getting Back Together!

**Author's Note:**

> Words cannot describe how excited I am for this. I've wanted to work on a sequel for so long, so when the idea came to me for a plot and stuff, I immediately started writing.
> 
> I hope you guys will stick around and join me on this little adventure once more. It was so fun the first time!
> 
> So this starts a couple months after the two little "epilogues" I added to the original LAM, so if you haven't read those, go do that!

“Sir, Mikey just radioed in. It seems we might have a problem.”

“I’m coming,” Tyler replied, shooting his boyfriend a look before pushing up from his chair. It felt like the two of them had less and less time to do anything these days before an interruption arose.

“What do you think is going on?” Josh asked as he followed Tyler up the spiral staircase and down the hallway, at his heels the entire time. Ever since Josh’s accident, and giving up his chance at being human again, Tyler had put Josh in charge of security, which basically just meant he got to boss Gerard and Mikey (and occasionally Brendon) around. However, when a problem arose that needed more guidance than just Josh, Mikey and Gerard were to go straight to Tyler, who was the esteemed leader of the entire clan.

“We haven’t had a severe problem in a while, so honestly, I have no clue.” Tyler shook his head as the two of them rounded a corner, where Pete joined them, looking just as worried.

“He’s at the front end, past the garage. You know, where the city meets the woods.” Pete, second in command, had done a lot for the clan, and still insisted that Tyler be leader. Tyler and Josh owed everything to him.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know everything, he just said it was important I tell you. You guys should get there as soon as possible.”

“I can head out ahead,” offered Josh, “I’ll get there a lot faster than either of you.”

“True,” Tyler agreed. “Go ahead, Pete and I will get there as soon as we can.”

Josh turned to leave when Tyler grabbed him by the shoulder and swiveled him around to plant a quick kiss to his lips. “I love you,” he whispered, “be safe.”

“I will,” he promised, his hand lingering where Tyler grasped it. Pete nudged him forward.

“We’ll be there soon,” he said. “I’ll take care of lover boy here, okay? Go.”

Josh nodded, ran a hand through his freshly dyed yellow hair, took one long, deep breath, and began a quick jog. Down the hallways, out the door, and  _ whoosh-- _ there he went, nothing but a yellow blur. The sun beat down over his head as he darted silently through the woods, his vision crystal clear as he avoided trees and tripping over roots. Gerard’s faded red hair was in view when he was finally able to slow.

“I forgot how fast you are,” he commented, pursing his lips in satisfaction. Mikey grinned.

“Awesome. Boss man one and two on their way?”

“Yes. What’s going on?”

“I think it’s better if you see for yourself.” Mikey gestured to his right, where an unfamiliar girl lay crumpled, like she had been knocked out. Josh frowned.

“She’s a talent.”

“Good observation,” Gerard muttered sarcastically. “I found her about a mile in. She was mumbling about the “almighty” super race.”

“Which I’m guessing is us,” Mikey added.

Josh cocked an eyebrow. “Okay, and?”

“Let me rephrase this. She was mumbling about killing us.”

“Yeah dude, she’s got a gun.” Mikey nudged it with his foot and took a step away. Josh squinted. Why wouldn’t she use her talent?

“You thought she was going to find us? Guys, I don’t think this is anything ‘Tyler Level.’ You could have called me, y’know.”

“It just seemed important is all,” Mikey argued, “After what happened with you all those years ago.”

Josh frowned. He was never going to live that down, was he?

Although he knew there was nothing in the world that would make him regret his decision that crisp March day.

“Did one of you knock her out?” Josh stepped closer and set his hands on his hips.

“Nah, she fainted. Actually, to be more specific, she saw Gerard, charged him, and then fainted.” Mikey crossed his arms and frowned. “Something’s weird about this.”

Josh crouched and reached out to roll the girl over. Her hair was a bright, flaming red, her skin almost a pale purple, and she was foaming from the mouth. He pressed two fingers to her neck.

No pulse.

“I think she’s dead,” he whispered.

“She looks sick,” Gerard commented as he too crouched down and pressed two fingers to her wrist. “Yeah, no pulse. I think you’re right.”

“Do you think she was one of Brent’s people? A straggler maybe?”

“We destroyed that building almost four years ago, what are the chances we’d have some crazy person from Brent’s clan hunting us down?”

“I’m more than sure people managed to escape. The question is how she knew we were in here.”

“Brent knew, didn’t he?” muttered Mikey.

“Maybe it’s time to move.”

“We aren’t moving.” Blurry’s gruff voice came from the woods, and the three of them turned where Pete and Tyler had come out of the trees. Blurry’s eyes drained back to Tyler’s deep brown.

“Bring us up to speed,” Tyler demanded. Josh stood up, crossed his arms, and nodded towards Mikey and Gerard.

“We were doing our runs,” Mikey started, “when Gerard and I heard this girl howling and screaming about killing talents.”

“But she’s one,” Pete raised an eyebrow.

“Exactly,” Gerard continued. “She also had a gun. Why use that when you could use your talent?”

“Maybe she has one that doesn’t help kill. It’s not like teleportation can kill anyone,” Tyler added. Mikey shrugged.

“I guess that’s true.”

“That’s not it though. She fainted, started foaming from the mouth, and now she’s dead.”

“I can confirm that,” Josh spoke up, gesturing to the unknown girl. “She doesn’t have a pulse.”

“Shit.” Pete took a step back. Tyler sighed.

“Okay, so we find a way to amp up security. I’ll talk to my dad, he might know a way for us to make ourselves invisible.”

“You think there’s a way to do that?” Josh asked.

“Well, wait a second,” Gerard interrupted, “why don’t we ask Gabe to make it foggy or something? There’s no way anyone will be able to find their way around the woods to home base when we’re covered in thick fog.”

“That’s a good point,” Pete nodded his head in agreement.

“Plus Jack could make it dark,” Mikey added.

“Another good point,” Josh said.

Tyler nodded as well. “I guess if we all pitch in, it shouldn’t be too hard to give ourselves more protection.”

“There might be a chance she’s a straggler from Brent’s clan.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “You think so?”

“Gerard’s a bit skeptic, but I think there’s definitely a chance.” Josh swallowed loudly and looked around the trees. He expected a bunch more talents to crawl out on all fours, also foaming from the mouth.

“It makes sense I guess. What are the chances we actually managed to kill all of Brent’s clan?”

“If she’s from Brent’s clan, then she should consider herself lucky she’s already dead, because I would have killed her myself,” Pete spat. Tyler laid a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

“There’s no guarantee, Pete.”

Pete shrugged out of Tyler’s touch. “I know that. I’m just saying. We should increase security. We don’t need anymore people betraying us.”

“So you’re saying we’re no longer going to allow people to join us?” Gerard asked, his voice growing a bit louder. It was evident he wasn’t very happy about Pete’s statement. “Wasn’t that the entire reason of starting Home Base? It was supposed to be a safe haven. We were supposed to give a home, food and water, to those who needed it.”

“Yes, we let Brent in. Yes, he was a traitor. But that shouldn’t mean we give up completely.” Mikey stood up taller and moved closer to his brother.

“We can have a group meeting and talk about that later. For now, Gerard, could you run into town and call the police? Anonymously, of course. Somebody needs to help her.”

“Sure thing.” Seconds later, Gerard was gone, leaving the leaves swirling around their feet.

Pete huffed. “I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

“Nobody is going to get hurt,” Mikey said.

“People already got hurt,” he growled, causing Mikey to take a step back. Tyler once again laid a hand on Pete’s shoulder while Josh held his arm protectively in front of Mikey.

“Pete, calm down.”

“Don’t fucking start with me, Joseph.”

“Guys--”

“Patrick CAN’T FUCKING TALK BECAUSE OF BRENT!” Pete shoved Tyler off of him, harder than he had before. “I’ll be fucking DAMNED if we let another person in!”

“Yeah? Well that’s not up to you,” Tyler shouted back. His eyes flickered red. “Maybe you should go take a walk or something.”

Pete scowled, and disappeared into the woods. 

“Asshole,” Mikey muttered. Tyler shook his head.

“I understand he’s upset. We were all upset. We’re still upset, deep down. Trauma clawed its way inside of us all those years ago and hasn’t left since. We’re all scared. Deep down, we all know there’s another chance this same thing could happen again.”

“Especially after what your father said about the black market.” Josh mumbled.

“Yeah. Exactly.” He turned towards Mikey. “Would you mind taking me back home?”

“Not at all Boss Man. Josh? You good to go on your own?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Mikey smiled. “Cool.” He latched onto Tyler’s bicep, and they were gone within the blink of an eye. Josh turned back towards the body of the dead girl and rubbed at his eyes.

Something about this situation didn’t feel right to him. Sure, it wasn’t surprising that maybe she’d want to kill her own kind. Humans killed other humans all the time. It wasn’t surprising to him either that maybe one of Brent’s people was on the hunt for them. After all, they were responsible for the destruction of their home and their work. Josh wasn’t sure what it was, but  _ something _ was off. How could she have dropped dead?

A white blur zoomed past him. Josh assumed that was Gerard, which meant the police were on their way.

With one last glance, Josh darted back into the woods.

\---

“Okay, this meeting is in session.” Tyler glanced around the room before he looked over at Josh standing next to him. Pete leaned up against the back wall, his face still twisted in fury. Patrick stood next to him, looking more intrigued than upset. Most people didn’t even know what this meeting was for. “Thank you all for coming.”

“What’s going on?” Hayley asked, her hair flickering to a dark shade of blue.

“Everything will be explained, don’t worry,” Gerard said, which calmed the crowd down a bit. He and Mikey stood up next to Tyler and Josh. They had offered Pete a place, but he had wholeheartedly refused. Josh assumed Pete would say what he wanted to say when he felt the time was right. He tended to do that quite a bit.

Josh stepped forward. “Look. It’s been four years since the whole Brent debacle, and we’re all still pretty shaken up by it, right?” The crowd filled with murmurs. “I know I am. I still have nightmares. Sometimes I forget I’m like... this, even after all these years. My mother asks questions. Each reminder is like a knife digging deeper into my trauma. And I know there are others who feel the same way.”

Brendon stepped forward looking significantly less cocky than he usually did. He cleared his throat. “I still have nightmares too.” A pang of guilt ran through Josh’s body. He knew he was part of that reason.

“I do too,” Mikey admitted quietly. Gerard put an arm around his shoulders.

“Me three,” Alex added.

“Point proven.” Josh stepped back so Tyler could have the floor once more.

“So here’s the thing. Today, Gerard and Mikey found a lone talent wandering around the woods muttering about wanting to off all talents. And she had a gun.” More murmurs rocketed through the crowd. Tyler waited for them to quiet down. “The thing is, some of us believe there’s a possibility she was a member of Brent’s clan.”

“How? I thought we destroyed that place,” Lynn looked doubtful.

“Brent’s clan was huge. The idea that we could have offed every single person is absurd,” argued Mikey as he crossed his arms. Vecchio pushed to the front of the clan.

“You guys definitely did not manage to kill everyone. Trust me. Some of them still try and get in contact with me.”

Tyler’s brow furrowed. “Why haven’t you told us this?”

“I didn’t think it was important. I don’t talk to them.” Pete’s fist connected with Vecchio’s jaw before anyone could stop him, sending him crumpling to the floor. The dining room filled with chaos as Zack and Andy yanked Pete off of Vecchio while Boyd and Soren came to his rescue. Finally freed from Pete’s grasp, Vecchio spat out blood and eyed him angrily.

“What the fuck, dude?”

Pete’s nostrils flared. “What the  _ fuck? _ You’re asking me,  _ what the fuck? _ I oughta fucking KILL YOU!” Patrick pulled on his boyfriend’s arm, his eyes glowing gold. Pete relaxed.

“Everybody please calm down. Look, Vecchio, that seems like pretty important information, especially since you basically committed treason. As for Boyd and Soren, we let you in here as a gesture of kindness.”

“I oughta fucking kill you too!” Pete charged towards Boyd, who raised his fists in defense. “You fucking DID THIS TO PATRICK!”

“Pete! Calm the fuck down!” Brendon helped pull Pete back this time, Patrick’s eyes still glowing.

“I’m sorry,” Boyd said about ten times, “I know what I did was wrong, and trust me, I appreciate you letting me stay here more than you could ever know.”

_ “I know that,” _ Patrick said, his voice appearing in everyone’s head as it had to now for him to communicate.  _ “I forgave you years ago.” _

“How? Fucking how?” Pete was beyond furious. “Our clan was great before you allowed those outsiders in!”

“That’s the whole point of this place!” Gerard shot back. He was angry too. “If we don’t welcome everyone in with open arms, then our purpose is nothing but a lie!”

“We let Brent in with open arms and look what happened,” Jack straightened his posture and joined Pete’s side. “Maybe Pete’s right.”

“Guys, please!” Tyler threw his hands up in the air. “We can have an argument, but let’s be civil about this.”

“Like you were ever fucking civil before, not with that monster inside of you,” Pete glared at Tyler, his face red, the veins in his neck pulsating, as a hush fell over the crowd. Josh acted quickly, snarling, as he zipped across the room and punched Pete in the face. Josh wasn't quick to violence, but he was furious.

“Don’t you fucking  _ dare,” _ he growled, “That’s my fucking boyfriend you’re talking about.”

Pete spat and looked up at Josh’s dark eyes. He scoffed and turned to address the crowd as Tyler pulled Josh away from him. “Don’t you guys understand? We’re turning against each other. This wouldn’t have happened if we had kept to ourselves.”

“If the three of you had kept to yourselves, none of us would be here,” Brendon moved to side with Gerard. “I agree with Gerard. If Tyler hadn’t found me, I would probably be dead. This place saved my life.”

“Jack, you’d be dead too if you hadn’t come here. Remember?” Alex cocked an eyebrow as he too moved to Gerard’s side. “I have to side with Gerard and Brendon on this matter. This place gave me a home.” Jack rolled his eyes.

“This place gave me a family,” Hayley said softly. Keegan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a side hug.

“I just think we need to be cautious with who we let in,” Frank chimed in. “We don’t want another Brent situation on our hands, but we also let some of his people in.” He looked over at Vecchio, Boyd, and Soren, who glared back at him.

Tyler sighed. “Look you guys, I can see both sides. Yes, we need to amp up security. Yes, we need to be wary. But we also need to keep in mind the reason why I started this place.”

“Well put,” said Dallon. Pete grumbled under his breath.

“Shouldn’t we also be worried about the fact that this girl was  _ foaming from the mouth?” _ Mikey exclaimed, seeming quite distraught that no one had brought that up yet. Tyler nodded his head.

“Oh yeah. Forgot to mention this girl was dead. Not only dead, but foaming from the mouth.”

“She seemed almost... rabid,” Gerard added. Pete continued to glare.

“Did she seem sick? Any obvious symptoms? What about her skin? Any rashes? Bumps? Anything like that?” asked Dallon. Josh almost slapped himself. Of course! Dallon knew all about this kind of stuff. They should have brought him to her.

“She’s was really pale,” Josh said, “Her veins were like, a gross purple compared to her skin.”

Dallon frowned. “I assume the police have already taken care of the situation.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize. Honestly, I’m not sure what could have been wrong with her. Chances are whatever sickness she had caused deliriousness and possible hysteria. Hopefully she didn’t belong to any clan.”

“I don’t know how I’ve never asked this question, but are there any diseases that affect only talents? You know, like how cows can get Mad Cow Disease.”

“We aren’t susceptible to many human diseases, but there hasn’t been any news of a ‘talent only’ virus. I can do some research tonight though.” 

Tyler nodded and turned back to address the group as a whole. “Can we put this argument on hold for now? Gabe and Jack, if I could speak to you in private, that’d be nice.” The two nodded their heads.

“I’ll be in on this conversation as well,” Pete announced, separating himself from Patrick’s grasp. Patrick reached back out, his lips pressed into a frown, and Josh assumed they were having a private conversation of some sorts. Josh nudged Tyler, who looked over at him worriedly. Ever since they learned that there were ways they could communicate telepathically, they had spent lots of time and effort perfecting their silent methods.

_ You aren’t seriously going to let Pete in on this conversation, are you? _

Tyler shrugged in response and turned back around. “Very well,” he said. “Meeting adjourned.”

The crowd departed, all except for Tyler, Josh, Jack, Gabe, and Pete. Gerard and Mikey lingered behind, only leaving after Josh gave the thumbs up that everything was going to be okay. Patrick too hung back, his arms crossed, lips tilted into a frown. Josh was sure he was worried about Pete’s short temper.

Tyler sat them down at a table, Josh next to him, while the other three sat across. Gabe played nervously with the side of his sunglasses, Jack ran a hand through his hair, and Pete sat stoic, his arms crossed against his broad chest.

“Gabe, is there any way you could mask the building in fog?”

“If I thought about it, maybe. But to narrow in on our home twenty-four seven will be quite difficult,  _ mi amigo. _ Unfortunately I don’t have the attention span nor the experience to keep us masked at all times.”

“If Vecchio helped you out, you think you could practice and figure some things out?”

Gabe nodded. “I’d be happy to try. Anything to keep the ones I love safe.”

Tyler smiled. “It’s appreciated. Jack.” Jack looked up from his fingernails. “You think you could make it dark? You know, make it difficult to locate the building if you are unaware where it is.”

“Definitely. How far out do you need me to go?”

“Probably a little past the garage.”

Jack thought about it. “Hmm, so a little bit over a mile. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Fantastic. I really appreciate it guys. I’ll probably talk to some others, see what we can do to make this place safer. Pete, what do you think about installing cameras and maybe a keypad system?”

Pete sniffed. “Definitely something I could do. I’ll get Andy and Zack to help me out.”

“Sounds good. Josh can help too, if you need an extra set of hands. He’s in charge of security around here anyways.”

“Which never really made sense to me.” Pete sent a death glare Josh’s way. There was still a bit of dried blood under his purpled nose. “Since he’s the one that trespassed.”

“Seriously dude? That was four fucking years ago.”

“Guys, please don’t fight.” Tyler rubbed at his temples and sighed. Josh raised an eyebrow.

_ He’s being an asshole,  _ Josh thought. He could hear Tyler sigh once more, internally this time. Man, he was really trying to be a mediator today.

_ I know, J, just please don’t push things. At least not right now. _

Pete stood up from the table. “I’m not dealing with this shit right now. To be honest, I feel like it’s time for a new leader. Someone who knows how to actually get stuff fucking done.” he swiveled on his heel and stomped down the hallway.

“Oh, fuck you,” Josh called after him. Tyler’s hand curled over his knee as a silent plea to  _ not push things. _

“I don’t agree with him there,” Jack mumbled, back to picking at his nails. Gabe nodded his head.

“You are a fantastic leader and an even better friend.”

Tyler smiled once more. “Thank you guys. For your cooperation and everything. I’ll get this stuff sorted out eventually.”

“We believe in you,” Jack replied, standing up from the table. He waved Gabe to follow him, and they too disappeared down the hallway, leaving Josh and Tyler alone in the dining room. Tyler let his head drop to the table and let out a loud groan. Josh laid a hand on his back.

“Pete’s just being a dick. We can provide more protection without completely banning anyone from joining us ever again. As for Vecchio and Boyd, I’ve definitely forgiven them too. They’ve proved they belong here.”

“I know that,” Tyler spoke into the table. “I just feel like Pete is completely avoiding what the real problem was. That girl, whatever happened to her, isn’t normal. No matter what anyone says.”

“I agree. There’s something weird about it.”

Tyler sat up and cracked his neck. He wiggled his paintless fingers. Tyler spent less days with the paint covering his arms, and Josh was extremely proud of him for that. He was finally learning to love himself. “I’m going to drive up to my parent’s house and talk to my dad. Can you come with?”

“Of course,” Josh responded without question. “This is all of our fight, not just Pete’s. He’ll learn.”

“Thanks for sticking up for me. I gotta admit, you’re pretty fucking sexy when you’re acting all badass.” Tyler smirked and Josh rolled his eyes. That, however, did not stop him from pulling his boyfriend into a kiss. They kissed for a few minutes before Tyler pulled away and stood up from the table. “Guess we should probably start looking into security systems, huh?”

Josh nodded. “Guess so.”


	2. Ruh Roh Raggy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the positive responses on that last chapter! Hopefully I'm not boring you yet ;)
> 
> Suspense is building; this one adds on to what's to come.
> 
> Also, don't expect updates everyday, I'm just doing this one now because the next couple of days I'll be working long hours, but I'll try my best to put them out asap!
> 
> Thanks again for reading, it really means a lot <3

The two hour drive to Tyler’s childhood home consisted of mostly silence. When the two really did want to speak, they did it telepathically, willing to spend more energy communicating rather than break the silence.

Tyler had just killed the ignition when Josh finally spoke. They sat in the car, the Joseph home looming in front of them.

“You know the last time I saw your father was when he made that cure for me.”

“Three months ago,” Tyler said softly. He reached out for Josh’s hand. “Are you regretting not taking his offer?”

“Of course not. I love you, and I love what I get to do. This is just another bump in the road for us to get through. Things with Pete, they’ll die down. You know he’s got a seemingly uncontrollable temper.”

“Yeah, I know.” Tyler pocketed his car keys and opened the door. “Let’s talk to my dad about this.”

\---

Ten minutes later, Tyler and Josh sat in Mr. Joseph’s lab, which was considerably more clean than it had been last time.

“I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting a phone call so soon.”

“It’s not about that,” Tyler said a bit too quickly.  _ Sorry, _ he added, just for Josh. Josh smiled.

“It has nothing to do with me or the cure. Don’t worry, I promise I’m fine being like this.”

Tyler’s father dropped down into a padded seat behind his desk and moved some stacks of papers off to the side. “Alright then. So why are the two of you back?”

Tyler opened his mouth to speak, but was promptly cut off by Josh. “Are there any diseases, viruses, outbreaks, that kind of stuff, that only talents can get?”

Mr. Joseph’s brow furrowed. “Hmm. I’ve never really dived into that stuff. It’s definitely possible-- we  _ aren’t _ human, our immune systems are set up differently. Basically, our entire bodies are different from humans. We don’t get many human viruses.”

“Why has nobody looked into that? Seems kind of important in my opinion,” Tyler raised an eyebrow. His father sighed.

“We make up such a small population of the  _ homo _ species here on Earth. Look around you son. We walk among  _ homo sapiens. _ Not all of us are doctors and scientists. Not all of us know about the differences between us and humans. Sure, we look alike. Sure, we are faster, stronger, more adaptable to our environment, but humans outnumber us. We are all animals, finding ways of survival. After all, think of all the inventions that we now rely on. Cell phones, televisions, refrigerators-- we didn’t always have those things.”

“But it is possible? The disease thing.” Josh leaned forward. Mr. Joseph frowned.

“Why are you so concerned with that?”

“We found a girl about five miles away from us, muttering about killing the entire Talent species.” Tyler’s father turned back towards him. “She charged at one of my, uh, roommates, and then fainted, seizing and foaming from the mouth. She was dead after that.”

“I hope you called the police.”

“We did. She wasn’t human though, that’s the problem.”

“Hmm. Interesting.” Mr. Joseph reached for a pen, grabbed a file off the stack, and began scrawling notes down. “I’ll contact some of my colleagues and see what they know. For all we know this may be nothing, but it’s worth a shot if it saves lives. I would make sure wherever you are living is secure and hidden.”

“We’re making it that way, don’t worry,” Tyler promised.

“If this really is some sort of outbreak, how do you think it happened?” Josh asked. He began chewing on a hangnail.

“Honestly, I think it comes back down to the whole black market thing. There are some interesting people out there, people who are both talented and wicked. Which reminds me. I hope you especially are being protected and hidden. You’re worth--”

“Millions, maybe even billions, yeah I remember.”

“We’re taking good care of him,” said Tyler. His father nodded.

“Excellent. He’s precious cargo, don’t forget that.”

“You know Dad, it sounds like you love Josh more than you love me.” Tyler grinned. 

“Oh, I love you both equally.” While Tyler and his father laughed heartedly, Josh continued to sit, chewing quietly on his hangnail, which began to bleed. Something still didn’t seem right here. The idea of being kidnapped again didn’t seem appealing in the slightest, but Tyler’s light hearted sense of humor about it made him uneasy, as did the virus thing.

“Would I be affected by a talent only virus?” he blurted out, causing both Joseph’s to look at him. Mr. Joseph frowned once more. He rubbed at his neck and tilted his head, studying Josh.

“I think that depends what part of you is still human.”

“I didn’t think any of me was still human.”

“You still have human blood, remember?” Tyler reached out to grab Josh’s free hand and squeezed it supportively. “I remember you,” he gestured to his father, “saying something about being able to tell Josh had human and talent DNA in his system.”

“He does. He’s also dead and alive, and somehow has three talents rolled into one. He’s the only one like that. You know, you are a very complex man, Joshua.”

“Fantastic,” Josh said dryly.

“I could always run some tests, see what you would end up getting if I put human viruses in you. Nothing life threatening, even though I’m not quite sure if it is possible for you to die...”

“Dad.”

“Sorry.” Mr. Joseph cleared his throat. “If you’d like me to, of course.”

“No, you aren’t putting diseases into my boyfriend,” Tyler argued, “no matter how special and complex he is.”

“I don’t know,” Josh was wary, “that sounds dangerous.”

“Like I said, it’s up to you. I’d have to purchase some supplies and talk to my associates anyways, so you have time to mull things over.”

“He doesn’t need time to mull things over. That’s not happening.” Tyler stood up, pulling Josh up with him. “Thanks for your help, Dad. Call us if you find anything about the viruses.”

“Yeah, of course.” Mr. Joseph continued to stare at Josh, who finally caved in and looked away. As much as he owed Tyler’s father for all the help he had offered with the cure and the information about the black market, his interest, nay, his  _ infatuation, _ with Josh was a bit off putting.

“Tell Mom I said hi and I’ll visit soon.” he yanked Josh forward, his hand staying put on his boyfriend’s bicep until they were by Tyler’s car. Josh climbed in and stared at the dashboard. Tyler rested his head on his steering wheel. Neither of them said a word; Josh counted to sixty seconds three times before Tyler sighed audibly.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “About my dad. I know he can be a bit intense.”

“It’s okay,” Josh promised. “He’s smart and knows what he’s doing. We need him.”

“I think he sees you as a science project sometimes. He’s always wanting to run all sorts of tests on you--”

“This is only the second time, Ty. You heard him, I’m rare. If I can stop disasters from happening, if I can stop people from getting hurt, then I’m going to take that opportunity.”

Tyler sighed loudly once more, this time in defeat. “Why do you have to be so dang perfect all the time?”

Josh raised an eyebrow. “Dude, I’m far from perfect.”

“I just, I don’t want you getting hurt. You’ve already been through so much, you know? And now that there’s a chance all this stuff with Brent is resurfacing... I’m scared. You don’t deserve to go through all that shit again.”

“I’m not going to,” Josh reached out for Tyler’s hand, “because I have you by my side this time. You know what’s going on. I know what’s going on. We work together. Okay?”

“Okay.” Tyler sighed again and jammed his keys into the ignition. “Pick the music, will you?”

“Got it,” Josh grinned as he jammed the aux cord into his phone.

\---

Back at home, Tyler met with Gabe and Vecchio. Josh was there too of course; Tyler hardly did any of his business without Josh at his side.

“Okay, explain this to me one more time.” Vecchio cracked his knuckles and placed his hands on his hips. Gabe and Tyler shared the same look of determination, Gabe nodding his head as a silent plea for Tyler to do the talking.

“You know about the girl we found, right?”

“Right. I was there. Actually, I was more than just  _ there.”  _  He tilted his chin up, displaying a perfect view of his bruised jaw. 

“Er, yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Thank you for actually defending me.” Vecchio sighed. “A lot of people seem to be uncomfortable with us being here, even after all these years.”

“Ignore ‘em,” Gabe said.

“I wish it were that easy.” Vecchio sighed again. “Okay, so, this girl. You want to increase security because of her?”

“Some believe there’s a chance she’s from Brent’s clan. You did say there was no way we killed all of them, remember?” Josh shifted from Vecchio’s bed to the wall and leaned against it. Vecchio nodded.

“There’s definitely a chance. Honestly, I’m a little shocked at the lack of security you guys had. You seriously didn’t have Gerard and Mikey running their rounds until Josh broke in?”

“I did not break in,” Josh corrected him, rolling his eyes, “the door was unlocked.”

“My point exactly.”

“Hey now,” Tyler raised an eyebrow, “That was Mikey’s fault. Honestly, I was a little off my game, and I thought we were deep enough in the woods that nobody would find us anyways. I mean, the building looks abandoned from the outside, right?”

Vecchio shrugged. “I guess so.”

“Anyways, now we’re doing what we should have done years ago. I’m wondering if you can work one-on-one with Gabe here so he can mask our building in a thick enough fog to shield us from outsiders.”

“Where I’m at right now, I don’t have enough experience, focus, or energy to mask it twenty-four seven,” Gabe explained. “I know what your talent is. If we could work personally, I think I could do it.”

“Oh, of course. I’d be more than happy to.”

Tyler sighed with relief. “Thank you so much, Lou. It really means a lot.”

“Anything for you guys. You’ve already done so much for me.” He smiled, and turned to address Gabe. “Hey man, we could start now if you wanted to.”

“Sure. I got nothing going on.”

“Seems like that’s our cue to leave.” Tyler pulled gently on Josh’s elbow. “Thanks again guys. Vecchio, Gabe, drop by my room or Josh’s to leave an update when you have time.”

“Of course,” Gabe said as the door to Vecchio’s room shut. Tyler traded his grip on Josh’s elbow to hold his hand instead.

“That went well,” Josh said cheerfully, hoping it would make Tyler feel better about the situation. Tyler shrugged.

“Now we have to talk to Pete. I’m not looking forward to this at all.”

“Do we have to talk to him?”

“Yeah. And you should probably apologize for punching him in the face.”

Josh groaned. “Why? He was being a dick! He totally deserved that!”

“I know, but he’s still pretty distraught over the whole Brent thing. Patrick was terrorized, you know. I know he’s fine now, but Pete is still upset for him. It’s an iffy subject, and we need the waters to be calm for now.”

Josh continued to pout even though he knew Tyler was right. “Fine. I’ll apologize.”

“Thank you.” Tyler pressed a kiss to Josh’s cheek.

“How’s Blurry?”

“Surprisingly quiet. He hasn’t argued or anything.”

“You have been very official sounding lately. Being leader is a good look on you.” Josh smirked, which caused Tyler to blush. He rolled his eyes.

“Oh hush. It’s just, this is really the first time we’ve had a big situation since the thing with Brent. Unless you count that ant infestation we had.”

“Nobody counts that.”

“Okay then.” Tyler suddenly stopping mid-walk and turned to push Josh against the wall. His back made a  _ thud  _ sound as he looked into Tyler’s dark eyes. No red, which ruled out the possibility of him getting rough. “I need you to be honest with me.”

“I’m always honest with you,” Josh frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Tyler sighed and reached out to push a strand of curly, yellow hair off Josh’s forehead. Josh’s frown deepened. “I like the yellow more than the red.”

“Tyler.”

“I know, I know.” A huff. “Are you okay with this? With all this talk of Brent, and the possibility that she, that girl, is one of his... people.”

“I’m fine, Ty. After all that stuff happened, and I found myself like this,” he gestured to his whole body, “I didn’t want to admit it had actually happened. Sure, there are some ups, like the fact that I’m fucking ripped now,” Tyler rolled his eyes once more at Josh’s smirk, “but I also was always paranoid and freaking out about the strength, the speed, and of course, the fire. Those sessions I had with you really helped, but I remained in denial about the situation. It really wasn’t until I had that conversation with your dad about Brent that I was finally able to  _ let go. _ It was cathartic in some weird way. Ever since then, I’ve been okay. I know Pete is still upset. I was in the same position as him for years.”

“We should talk to Patrick.”

“Yeah, that might help Pete.” Josh smiled and put his hands on Tyler’s shoulders. “I promise I’m fine. Talking about the past doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Tyler pulled him into a tight hug and laughed softly. “You’re so perfect.”

“Stop saying that.”

He pressed a kiss to Josh’s temple. “Never.”

\---

Pete wasn’t in the room when Tyler and Josh knocked on the door. Patrick answered looking as optimistic as ever. He smiled.  _ “Hey guys. How can I help?” _

Tyler and Josh shared a look. “Any idea of where Pete might be?”

_ “He went out for the rest of the day. Is this about what happened yesterday? Because he was way out of line--” _

“Yes and no, but we wouldn’t actually mind talking to you either.”

Patrick nodded his head firmly and pulled the door to his bedroom wider, gesturing for them to come in. Josh sat down on the couch (finally they had exchanged their unused bed for one) while Tyler opted to stand.

_ “What’s up?” _

Josh looked over at Tyler, his mind spinning. He suddenly felt anxious.  _ Should I talk, or would you like to? _

Tyler answered Josh’s telepathic message by speaking out loud. “We’re worried about Pete.”

Patrick raised an eyebrow.  _ “In what ways?” _

Josh attempted to rephrase Tyler’s blunt opening statement. “Does the whole Brent thing still bother you?”

Patrick turned towards him as he sat down on his bed.  _ “Does it still bother you?” _

“I mean, in some ways, yes. But talking about it doesn’t bother me anymore. Seeing Vecchio and Boyd roam the halls, eat dinner with us, go out to movies, that stuff doesn’t bother me. We knew letting them in what they had done, but it’s obvious they’ve realized their mistakes. Soren, too.”

_ “You know I’ve forgiven all of them. That was many years ago. I’m happy. My relationship with Pete is better. What you said during that meeting pretty much summed up how I felt.” _

“So how are you dealing with this whole debate on whether we shut ourselves out from letting in any other talents?”

_ “I don’t agree with Pete on that part. I know he’s upset about what happened to me. He blames himself for not protecting me, but what could he have done?”  _ Patrick shrugged lamely.  _ “That wasn’t his fault. And whatever he saw in the woods has sparked up all the anger he had been storing since the stuff with Brent.” _

“Do you think you could talk to him? He’s behaving irrationally and impulsively. Yesterday he told Tyler he was unfit to be our leader.”

Patrick scoffed.  _ “Unfit? Tyler, you’re more fit to be our leader now than you have been in years.” _

“Wow, thanks.”

_ “Also kudos to punching him. I was getting ready to do that myself. He can be such an overprotective asshole sometimes. To answer your question though, yes, I’ll talk to him about his recent behavior. Just keep this conversation on the DL, okay?” _

“Of course,” Tyler promised, reaching for the doorknob. “Will you let us know when Pete gets back?”

Patrick nodded in response as Josh stood from the couch and moved towards the door. He remembered one of the first times he had been in here since arriving back home. Pete had made fun of him, and he about melted the doorknob. Josh was much better about controlling his body temperature these days, but anger still tended to flare him up a bit. (Fortunately, embarrassment no longer affected the flames as much as it used to.)

With Patrick’s door firmly shut, Tyler began walking back towards his room. Josh held back, his attention on the dining room, which seemed to have a sharp divide. He slipped his phone out of his pocket just enough to see the time--5:05 pm--and frowned. People weren’t sitting with who they usually sat with; Josh spotted Frank eating next to Jack, while Alex was on the complete opposite side of the room.

“Josh? You coming?” Tyler’s face was laced with worry when Josh whipped his head around. With one more glance, Josh jogged leisurely to catch up with his boyfriend. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.”

“Hey, you wanna go into town for dinner? Just the two of us. I’ll pay.”

“I’d like that,” he replied, still a bit lost in what he saw in the dining room. Not only was this whole situation weird, but it was dividing his family.

\---

A week passed. Pete continued to avoid everyone, leaving the building early in the morning and coming home late at night. Patrick explained to Tyler he was trying to talk to him, but Pete seemed to be avoiding his boyfriend as well. Gabe continued to work with Vecchio. He could hold the fog up to an hour before he began to weary. Vecchio said it was a start, and he could provide enough help to have the fog detach itself from Gabe’s energy levels.

For now though, Jack had the building masked in an intense darkness, one so thick that it seemed like it was night 24/7. This caused some problems for other residents, especially Keegan, whose body was seemingly freaking out. His eyes told him it was dark while his intuition told him it was sunny, which left him feeling sick to his stomach. Tyler had offered to drive him around town to help him feel better, but Keegan refused. “It’ll only make things worse when I have to come back here.”

Tyler told him things would get better when Gabe could hide them in fog and it wouldn’t have to be so dark, but it was making others cranky as well. He sighed. Making the building more secure was harder than it looked.

Jack was told to let off, and the darkness evaporated, returning order to the clan once more. Except, not exactly, because tensions were still high.

Mikey and Gerard left one day to go look at security systems they could install once Pete got back. Both were disgusted with the idea of having to spend time with Pete, and Tyler, always the mediator, promised they wouldn’t have to interact.

Tyler was beyond stressed, and Josh could tell. Instead of fooling around like they did most nights, Tyler would climb into bed and fall asleep right away, with not even Blurry making an appearance. Blurry had only made two visits in the past week, one, to yell at those not getting along and two, when he needed to be alone and went for a walk in the woods.

Mr. Joseph also called to inform them that his colleagues knew nothing about a talent only disease or virus, because it turned out that talents had more in common with humans than most people thought. To Josh however, things just didn’t seem right. He couldn’t help but think that maybe this was something bigger than it seemed, that it wasn’t just about this girl, or about Brent, or even about their security problems. It was about much more than that.

“Tyler.” Currently, Josh was laying on the floor of Tyler’s room, his knees pointed towards the ceiling as he looked at the dark walls. Four years later and this place still looked like something out of a horror movie.

Tyler sat at his desk, his face half hidden behind his Macbook. (Oh yeah. Josh had convinced them to go digital. They had been living in the “dark ages” for far too long.) Josh was pretty sure he was doing some research of his own, scrolling through current events, trying to figure out what the big picture was.

“Tyler,” Josh called out again, louder this time. Tyler still didn’t answer. “We should paint this place a brighter, happier color.” Nothing. “I’m going to get a tattoo of Nick Cage stealing the Declaration of Independence.” Nothing. “I think I’m going to start pulling my hair back into a man bun.” Still nothing. “Let’s move to the Polynesian Islands and pretend we’re  _ Moana.” _

“Josh, stop being annoying.”

He sat up. No way. Did Tyler just  _ talk? _

“Oh my God! Is it possible? Did Tyler Joseph, our lord and savior, just speak? Oh man. I’m weeping. My crops are flourishing, my skin is great, my outfit is on fl--”

“Seriously dude?” Tyler finally pulled his gaze away from his computer screen. “I’m working. We have a serious issue going on inside our clan and I need to fix it.”

Josh pushed himself off the floor and wandered over to Tyler’s mahogany desk. He sat down on the corner and sighed. “I know. But you’ve been working for a whole week and we’ve had hardly any time to do anything together. Trust me, I know weird stuff is going on.”

“My father is no help. Pete is avoiding us. Everyone is constantly fighting and it’s getting on my nerves. I just want things to go back to normal, you know, before everyone became paranoid.”

“I know. I want everything to be just as normal as you want it to be, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to take a break every once and awhile, you know? You’re stressing yourself out. I mean, every night this week you’ve collapsed onto the bed and were out like a light before your head even hit the pillow.”

“Yeah,” Tyler agreed. “I guess that’s true.”

“I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” he reached out to close his laptop and leaned back in his chair. “Sorry I’ve been so busy. I feel like, I dunno, like a CEO or something. Honestly, I never thought I’d have to be this proactive again.”

“Understandable. Are you scared?”

“Of what?”

Josh shrugged and moved closer to Tyler. “Scared our clan will drive itself apart. Scared we’ll never get answers for what’s going on. Scared somebody like Brent is going to come along and fuck everything up again.”

“Oh. Well yeah I’m scared. I lost you twice before, it’s not happening for a third time.”

“Tyler,” Josh said for the billionth time today.

“What?” And in response, Josh kissed him hard.

Taken off guard, Tyler fell out of his chair, landing on his butt hard enough to stun him. His hands flew to Josh’s hips, who pushed Tyler’s legs apart and pushed him back against the wall. In response, Tyler curled his legs around Josh’s waist and groaned softly.

“Oh fuck, Josh.”

“Yeah?” Josh bit the skin under his jaw and grinned against his perfectly tanned skin when Tyler moaned again.

“Harder.”

“Yeah.” He went back to sucking a hickey into Tyler’s neck. Tyler’s fingers curled in Josh’s shirt, tugging as a silent plea for him to take it off. Josh paused long enough to do just that, and flung it in the general direction behind him. Hands moved to Josh’s chest, pressed against warm, firm muscle, and moved back down to claw at his bare hips. Josh grinded against Tyler’s groin.

“Fuck.”

“Bedroom?” Josh pulled away, a smug grin on his face. His plan to get Tyler away from work was succeeding.

“I know why you did this, asshole, but I don’t even care anymore. Fuck yeah let’s go to the bedroom.”

Josh grinned. They could deal with the weird shit tomorrow. 

Tonight, he was going to make Tyler scream. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thanks to my good friend Pilotstille for editing and looking over this before I post it. Go check 'em out, everything they write is simply amazing.


	3. Close Encounters of the Talent Kind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys aren't too bored yet! ;)
> 
> So I'll try to post another update Thursday, but Friday I'm leaving for a short vacation so I won't be able to post until I get back on Tuesday, most likely. Bear with me!

“Tyler?” his walkie crackled. “We found another one.”

Josh looked up from his phone and frowned. “Seriously? Why don’t they come to me for these problems?”

“I’ll talk to them about it.” Tyler stood up from his desk, clipped his walkie on, and gestured for Josh to follow him. “I’m not bringing Pete this time.”

“He heard though. He’ll want to come again.”

Tyler shook his head. “If he does, I’ll be surprised. He’s been avoiding us for weeks now.”

It was true. It had almost been an entire month since they had found that girl in the woods, the girl that had singlehandedly divided the clan into those that were for closing their doors and those that were against. Since then, Vecchio had managed to help Gabe find the energy to constantly mask the building in fog, a fog thick enough that someone would get lost trying to walk through the trees. It was easier on the residents too. Jack provided assistance past the garage, where he made it dark enough for it to be unnerving.

They had also installed cameras and a keypad-- from now on, if you planned on leaving, you’d have to have a code to get back in. Everyone agreed they felt way more safe this way; even Josh felt better. Mr. Joseph’s words about him being worth all that money, about what people would do to him if they were able to get their hands on him, really freaked him out. He’d never let Tyler know about that though. Josh was pretty sure Tyler would never let him out of his sight if he did tell him. 

Both Gerard and Mikey wore grim looks when Josh and Tyler had arrived. Walking would have been too slow, so Tyler reluctantly agreed to Josh’s suggestion of a piggy back ride, and since Josh was  _ fast,  _ they got there in no time at all.

Gerard snorted. “So you’ll accept a piggy back ride from him, but not me?”

Tyler hopped down from Josh’s back and groaned. “We never talk about this, understand? Or I’ll send Blurry after you.”

“No he won’t,” Josh said. Tyler shot him a look.

“Anyways, where’s the girl?”

“Guy this time,” Mikey corrected. “He’s over here.” He led them past a few trees, closer to where Jack’s darkness began. Josh had to admit: it was pretty terrifying. If he had seen that the first time he had ever come in here, he probably would have turned the other way.

The man was tall and slender, and couldn’t have been older than 25. Like the girl, he was foaming from the mouth, his eyes glassy as he stared into space, never to blink again.

“Did you check his pulse?” asked Tyler. Gerard nodded.

“Yeah. He’s dead.”

“Shit,” Josh murmured.

Tyler’s lips pressed into a frown. “Did he charge you like the girl?”

“I found him whispering to himself. He kept walking back and forth, right in front of Jack’s defense, almost like he was debating whether or not to go through. I watched him for a few minutes, just to see if he’d go through with it. Spoiler alert: He didn’t.”

“Gerard called me, and seconds later he collapsed.”

A stick cracked, turning the group’s attention back towards the woods. Pete emerged from the darkness, looking pissed. “Thought you could get away with not finding me, huh?”

“Last I recall, you were the one avoiding us,” Tyler said sharply. Pete rolled his eyes, while Josh overheard Mikey mutter “asshole” under his breath.

“This only strengthens my argument. Whatever is wrong with these people, they’re getting closer and closer to us. Patrick’s not safe anymore.”

“So where are you going to go?”

“Some place else. I don’t know.” Pete glared at Tyler, who tore from his gaze and looked back down at the man.

An idea came to Josh. “Why don’t we get Vecchio? Maybe he knows this guy. He could confirm if these people are from Brent’s clan.”

“Dallon too,” Mikey exclaimed, “since he’s pretty much our doctor.”

“Good idea,” said Tyler.

“I can go get them. Give me sec.” Mikey disappeared, leaving the air tense. Pete crossed his arms and continued to glare while Tyler crouched down and reached out to touch the guy, still frowning. Josh made his way around and crouched down as well. He ran his eyes along the length of the man’s body-- although he was considered a talent, he didn’t have the intuition to tell whether someone was a talent like all his friends did. This guy looked pretty human to him.

“Are you sure this guy’s a talent?” he asked.

Pete laughed bitterly. “Yeah, we’re pretty damn sure.”

“You know what, Pete?” Tyler stood up. “I’m getting pretty sick of your attitude.”

“Really? What are you going to do, sick Blurry on me?” Tyler’s eyes turned red almost immediately, and Josh flew up to hold Tyler-turned-Blurry back. He growled, his lips twisting upwards into a snarl.

“I will fucking kill you, don’t try me.”

Pete took a step back, but that didn’t stop him from being an asshole. “All you and Josh ever do nowadays is fuck around. I’m sick of it. You don’t do anything for us anymore. Tyler, Patrick and I practically raised you. Without me, you’d be dead.”

“Hey,” Josh whispered, his arm still placed protectively in front of Blurry’s chest.

“Tyler does more than you do. All you’ve been doing is sulking around. Yeah, Brent fucked things up. You’re the only one who hasn’t gotten over it, and I don’t think you were even kidnapped.”

Mikey came back with Vecchio and Dallon then, looking quite frazzled to the scene in front of him. Gerard stepped his way and whispered something in his ear.

“Blurry, you good?” Josh pushed his neck out further to get a better read on his boyfriend’s facial expression.

“I’m going to fucking kill him,” he muttered, still shooting daggers at Pete. Pete scoffed and made his way around the body. Tyler’s eyes faded back to brown.

“You good?” Josh repeated. Tyler nodded.

Vecchio crouched down and reached out for the man’s wrist. “He doesn’t look familiar.”

“Brent’s clan was huge,” Pete tried to argue. Vecchio shook his head.

“I knew everyone though. We were family. In fact, there’s something off about this guy.”

“What?” Josh frowned. He had been saying that from the start!

Dallon too joined Vecchio on the ground. “You’re right. I can’t figure it out, but there’s something definitely off. There was nothing wrong with this guy. His vitals are fine. He was perfectly healthy.”

“So how the hell did he just drop dead?”

Dallon shook his head. “I honestly have no clue. There’s nothing off putting about him that would tell me he was going to drop dead. No poison, no diseases, no nothing. He definitely had years of health left.” he paused. “Wait a second.”

The group watched as Dallon pushed the man’s shirt up, revealing long, purple-blue bruises that stretched across his waist and over his chest. Josh covered his mouth with a hand. Shit. He recognized bruises like that, because he had the same ones. He dropped to the hard ground and pushed up the sleeves of the stranger’s long sleeved shirt. More bruises decorated his wrists, like he had been chained and put up a struggle.

_ Josh? _ Tyler’s voice appeared in his head. Josh didn’t reply.

“The other girl,” Dallon said firmly, “did she have bruises like this?”

“We didn’t check,” Gerard mumbled. His face burned red, like he was embarrassed they hadn’t thought about doing that. Josh sifted through his memories, trying to think if he had seen bruises, and he remembered-- she had bruises around her wrists as well.

Where were these people coming from? Were they being held, like Josh had been all those years ago?

“She had bruises,” Josh whispered, but no one seemed to hear him. Dallon sighed.

“Seriously? That seems like a pretty important thing to check.”

“We aren’t forensic experts like you,” Mikey argued, “seeing a dead girl was enough to rattle us.”

“She had bruises,” Josh repeated, a little louder this time.

“So if they aren’t from Brent’s clan, then where the hell are they from? This guy looks like he was tortured.” Pete spoke up, his sudden death glare softening a bit. “Maybe they were driven to insanity. Like I said before, closing our doors seems like more and more of a good idea with each passing day.”

“SHE HAD BRUISES!” Josh was a volcano, exploding in every direction, and the forest filled with silence as everyone turned to look at him. Even the birds fell silent.

He took a deep breath. “She had bruises. I remember. These are the same fucking bruises I had around my wrists, you know, when I spent days chained in Brent’s lab.”

“His neck,” Mikey said, pointing, “he doesn’t have any bruises there. No collar.”

“These don’t look familiar to you?” Josh looked over at the blonde. “You were there too.”

Mikey shrugged lamely. “I was thrown into a cell. My hands weren’t bound.”

Josh leaned back on his legs, which were beginning to numb. His hands shook. Maybe this wasn’t over. Maybe Brent wasn’t really dead. Was this happening to other people?

He already knew it was. Tyler’s father’s words echoed in his ears.  _ People pay good money to get humans to experiment on. _

But these weren’t humans. These were talents. Sick, delirious, rabid talents.

Tyler crouched down and reached out to touch Josh’s shoulder. Josh flinched and pushed him away.  _ Please don’t touch me. _

_ Sorry, _ Tyler’s frown deepened. He stood up. “Mikey, take Josh home. He doesn’t need to be here anymore.”

“Come on big guy,” Mikey reached out for him, just as Tyler had, and this time, Josh moved so fast he found himself standing in the street, miles out from the woods. His hands continued to shake.

Josh remembered this feeling of anxiety all too well. During his training sessions with Tyler, when he was first getting used to being like, like  _ this, _ he’d often forget that he didn’t know his own strength nor speed. Sometimes he’d find himself miles away from home, his throat burning with the feeling he was about to start crying.

Not this time though. This time, it was intentional, even though his stomach still clenched.

Josh moved to the sidewalk and began walking, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Sure, sometimes he and Tyler came down here for food, or sometimes he went with a group to see a movie, but it had been awhile since he had been here by himself. He continued down the street and rounded the corner.

There was the music store he had made countless trips to. That meant...

And there it was, his old apartment complex, where Pete had brought down his building. Nobody had died, thank God. Josh scoffed. It had taken him this long to come back and visit? He should have done this ages ago. In some weird way, it calmed his growing anxiety. This was normal life for him. In this apartment, he had escaped the drug world. He had his first serious relationship. He spent hours pounding away at his drumset, calming his nerves and worries.

There was a part of him that wanted to walk around and see the building he had lived in, wanted to knock on the door and see if someone even lived there, or if the building had been rebuilt. Cracks still ran through the streets.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. Josh assumed that was Tyler trying to figure out where he went. They must have been out of range for the walkies and whatever weird telepathic thing they had going on. Did that even have a range? They never had figured that out.

Josh tore his gaze away from his old home and continued his stroll. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He wanted to figure out what the hell was going on. Was he safe? Were his friends safe? Would the security they worked so hard to increase be enough, or was it all smoke and mirrors?

His phone rang again. Josh ignored it once more.

\---

The bell rang as a new guest entered the tiny Mom and Pop coffee store Josh was hiding in. He sat in a booth at the very back, sipping his black coffee leisurely and extremely slowly. After an hour it was cold, but that didn’t stop him from drinking it. Josh had been the only one in here for a few hours now, and the older man behind the counter had stopped coming over after Josh promised he was fine for the fourth time.

He, however, seemed to be ecstatic at the arrival of a new guest. Josh sank lower in his booth to avoid being seen by whoever had just entered and took another sip of his cold coffee.

“Can I get you anything?”

“I’m actually here for a friend.” Shit. Josh recognized that voice.

And sure enough, Brendon appeared from around the corner and slide into the seat across from Josh. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Josh sympathetically.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Josh muttered, tearing his gaze away from his brunette friend. Brendon sighed.

“Tyler’s worried about you.”

“He’ll get over it.”

“Josh.” Brendon’s hand touched his gently, and surprisingly, Josh didn’t pull away. “Let’s talk.” He popped his head over the wall of the booth and called to the man behind the counter. “Can we get two fresh cups of coffee?”

“Of course!” said the man giddily. Josh tapped his fingers on the table.

“What happened in the woods?”

“I don’t really want to talk about this right now. Thus why I came here to get away.”

“You know dude, they really don’t tell me anything. I’m just here to live my life.” Brendon paused to thank the man who had set down their freshly brewed cups of coffee. “Tyler came back with Mikey and Gerard freaking out. Dallon, Pete, and Vecchio were with him too I think.”

“Yep,” Josh muttered.

“He said you weren’t answering your phone and that walkie wasn’t within range.” Which was true. “I didn’t tell him you could find someone’s location by tracking their phone, so I came here to find you instead. Figured it’d be easier to talk to me than Tyler.”

Josh didn’t say anything.

“You know I'm not going to tell him anything unless you want me to.”

“I know.” Josh took a deep breath. “So the whole security amping thing. It’s because we found a dead girl, right?”

“Right,” Brendon nodded.

“Well, we found another one. A guy this time. He was young too, but his poor body was littered in bruises, bruises in the exact same places I had them when... you know.”

“Yeah. I know.” Another long sigh. “They were talents though?”

“That’s what everyone said, but something doesn’t feel right about it. Dallon said the guy was perfectly healthy, aside from the bruises. How could they just drop  _ dead?” _

“Maybe it’s a coincidence,” Brendon offered, “there’s only been two of them.”

“What if they aren’t talents though?”

Brendon frowned. “We can tell, you know. It’s a feeling, an intuition.”

“Yeah? Well I have an intuition that there’s more to this situation than we think. And I don’t know what really happened back in the woods. I froze. I suddenly found myself back in Brent’s lab, screaming my head off. I hated that Brendon, more than anything that’s ever happened to me before.”

“I hated it too. What we went through was fucked up. I mean, I’m pretty sure I got major PTSD from that. This is therapy level shit, you know? But the two of us,  _ all _ of us who got kidnapped, we’re strong. We’ve gotten past all the shit. And just because you happened to let it bother you again doesn’t make you weak, alright?”

“Tyler can’t know. I told him I was fine. He’s already worried about me, what with his dad said about me...”

Brendon raised an eyebrow. “What’d Tyler’s dad say?”

“Bren, there’s an entire elaborate black market set up for people just like Brent. They buy and sell humans to experiment on. Brent is like, infamous to everyone a part of this sick thing. Because we destroyed all his work, all his formulas and whatnot, people are basically racing to reach the levels of success he did. There are rumors he was successful, but there’s no proof. But the thing is,  _ I’m  _ the proof. If anyone found me, I’d be fucked. I’m worth billions of dollars. Once one of these sick people gets their hands on me, I’m going straight to another lab to be someone’s test subject, and then I’m being sold on the black market.”

Brendon exhaled slowly after Josh finished and rubbed at his temples. “Fuck, dude. That’s some heavy shit.”

Josh snorted. “That’s an understatement.”

“I can see why you’re so worried.”

“I just can’t shake the feeling that these two things are somehow connected. Tyler’s dad dabbles in that kind of stuff. Not the black market stuff, but he finds the humans whose lives have been ruined by this black market and helps get them back to normal. That’s why he knows so much.”

Something seemed to click in Brendon’s head. “That’s why you were talking about that cure. He was going to help you be human again.”

“Bingo. Obviously I didn’t take it. I’m willing to make things work like this, but I still worry about those crazy people sometimes. I know you didn’t want me to go through with it.”

“I still don’t. You know all of us would be willing to fight for you. You’re family. Nobody is going to touch you if we can help it. Well, except Tyler. He can touch you wherever.”

“Shut up dude,” Josh rolled his eyes, heat rising to his cheeks. “Just, don’t tell him about this conversation, okay? I don’t want him to freak out anymore than he already is.”

“What conversation?” Brendon grinned. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride home. We gotta grab a couple twelve-packs for the fridge though, people are getting antsy that we’re out of alcohol.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Josh stood up from the booth. Brendon dropped a couple bills on the table for the bill, thanked the man behind the counter, and together they pushed through the door.

\---

Back at home, the dining room was still pretty divided. Brendon dropped two cases of beer on the table and looked around. “It’s been a month and people are still being sharp with each other?”

“I guess,” Josh shrugged.

Brendon huffed. “Fuck it. I’m going back to my room to listen to the  _ Book of Mormon _ soundtrack. You coming?”

“I’d be honored. Only if we can listen to  _ Moana _ next.”

“Uhm... duh. And then  _ Hamilton. _ ‘Cause like Hamilton, I’m also a bastard.” He grinned. Josh laughed.

“I think our definition of bastard has changed over the years.”

“You’re right. Let’s go. Grab some beer, won’t ya?”

“Sure.” Josh had just pulled two beers out of the case when commotion arose on the other side of the room. Boyd was bleeding, his hands placed protectively over his face as he cowered deeper into the corner. Jack stood above him, his fists raised.

“You think I don’t know about the shit you did? I remember everything you fucker! You and your stupid friends should have never been allowed back here!” A small crowd began to form; Josh spotted familiar faces. Alex was surprisingly nowhere to be found, but he eyed Spencer, Zack, Rian, Andy, and Lynn. More faces appeared from around the corner as the volume increased.

“Stop it!” Spencer pulled Jack away from Boyd. “Are you seriously holding a grudge from something that happened years ago?”

“I know other people agree with me! Look at Pete!”

Lynn laughed bitterly. “Pete is definitely not  a role model to look at here.”

“Boyd did worse than anyone else we let in here. Look what he did to Josh,” Rian said. Zack nodded, but remained silent.

“Vecchio, I can see. He actually came to help us. But you? You are a piece of shit.” Jack went to hit him again, and this time, Boyd fought back, submerging the room in intense heat. Jack yelled out in pain as he dropped to the floor. Andy went after Boyd in defense, electricity cracking as giant webs of energy went flying towards him. Boyd shouted in anger.

“Fuck you guys! I’ve put up with your shit for years now!”

Jack pushed himself off the floor weakly, his wrist flicking forward as a giant cloud of darkness began to swallow Boyd whole. Lynn jumped, her now-concrete arm hitting Jack in the stomach.

“Ah shit,” Brendon muttered, stepping out to finally stop the situation. A loud, intense ringing filled everyone’s ears, causing the fight to stop immediately in exchange to raise hands to their pounding brains. Josh took a step forward too and let his firsts explode into flames (just for good measure and nothing more than intimidation).

Tyler shoved past the gathering crowd and burst into where the circle opened up, his face full of anger. “What the  _ fuck _ are you guys doing?”

Brendon dropped the ringing. Josh killed the flames and let the crowd swallow him. He wanted no confrontation with Tyler, not now.

“I want that monster out of here!” Jack screamed, pointing at Boyd. Boyd rolled his eyes.

“He’s not leaving. He’s apart of our clan.”

“Why did you let them in here anyways? All those years ago-- you could have killed them like you did with everyone else in Brent’s clan. These three men, these  _ monsters, _ they hurt our family and you let them come live with us.” Surprisingly, that was Frank of all people. Josh’s eyes widened. He had never heard Frank speak with vile in his tone.

“I can understand you letting in Ryan. He was tortured. But Vecchio, Boyd, even Soren, they helped kidnap our people. They helped torture our people. They destroyed lives. I bet you would have let that girl in here too, right?” That was Rian. The other Ryan slipped deeper into the crowd like Josh had done.

“Good thing she’s dead,” Jack shot back. Vecchio lost his shit.

He pushed through the crowd and launched himself at the tall man. Jack’s head hit the wall as Vecchio threw punch after punch. “You fucking ASSHOLE! Chrissy was a better person that you could ever fucking  _ hope  _ to be!” The dining room filled with sound as everyone talked over one another. Spencer and Gerard moved to pull Vecchio away from Jack, while Alex pushed through to make sure Jack was okay.

Vecchio spit and let his arms hang at his sides. Tears burned in his eyes. Boyd looked between his friends and the crowd of eyes on him. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry, okay? For all the pain I caused. I know I fucked up. I know what I did was wrong, and I have to live with that. I’m trying to be a better person. I thought here, I could have a better life. Yeah, you guys could have killed me, but you didn’t. You’re better than that. Well, some of you are better than that.” He shot Jack a look of pure fury. “I’m leaving. You guys obviously don’t want me here.”

“We’re going with him,” Vecchio said, pulling on Soren’s arm. Tyler stopped them.

“You guys are family.” He looked at them with a pleading look.

Vecchio sighed. “No. We’re not.” The crowd parted, allowing the three men to leave. Tyler stood, his face full of sorrow, which quickly turned to anger the minute they were gone. Everyone was silent as they waited for Tyler to do something. Josh even spotted Pete leaning against the back wall, and was a little surprised he hadn’t made some snarky comment yet.

“Every single one of you was let in here with open arms. Every. Single. One.” He rubbed at his eyes. “We are supposed to be a family. How can we be one if you’re constantly tearing each other down?”

“We aren’t,” Jack began to argue, “they were the ones--”

“I don’t want to hear it. Honestly Jack, that was shitty.” Jack hung his head.

“Well, you did it. You got what you wanted. They’re gone, with nowhere to go. You know why? Because we fucking blew up their home. This was supposed to be their new home. And it was, for four years. And somehow, because of one little thing, you all turned on each other.”

Silence.

“So I guess now we have our vote. Should we close our doors? Should we no longer let people stay with us because they’re different, or because they made mistakes? For heaven’s sake you guys, we let a  _ human  _ live with us.” Josh felt like he had been punched in the gut. He knew Tyler was using this as an example, but for some reason, it still hurt. “A human, an ordinary man, someone who was lower than all of us. You guys were more willing to let a human stay with us over our own kind?” The crowd filled with murmurs. Some realized that Josh was among them. Brendon’s hand latched onto Josh’s shoulder as a silent reminder that he was there for him. Just like they had done for Vecchio, Boyd, and Soren, the crowd parted once more.

Like a spotlight was on Josh, Tyler turned around, faced the man with the bright yellow hair.

Faced the man with pain flashing across his face.

“Josh, I didn’t mean--”

Josh never heard the rest of Tyler’s sentence that night. He was ten miles away from home by the time Tyler finished.


	4. (Bury) The Hatchet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter gets angsty, just a warning. Just know things won't be this "bad" forever!

“He’s sorry, you know.” Josh cradled his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he turned on the shower. The spray sputtered out red and rusty for a few seconds before turning clear. He sighed. For fifty bucks a night, Josh assumed something like this would happen. The crappy motel was worth it for one night.

“Dallon, I really don’t care.” The water was still cold when he put his hand underneath it. Oh well. It’d have to do. “I’m not coming back tonight.”

“He’s worried. You won’t answer his calls.”

“Spoiler alert: that’s kinda the point.” With his phone still cradled, Josh undid his belt and shimmied out of his pants.

“Joshua, I know how upset you are. I think talking with him will benefit you both. You can’t keep running away from your problems.”

“I am not running away from all my problems, I’m only running away from this one.” He put his phone on speaker and rested it on the counter so he could take his shirt off. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’m not too far from home. I found a cheap motel outside of town.”

“Do you have money and food?”

“Dallon, I’m fine. I promise. Tell Tyler that so he’ll stop worrying. Not that he really cares anyway.”

“I’m not defending him, but I don’t think he thinks that at all. He was just using the human thing as an example--”

“As an example to make the situation appear worse. I know what he was saying Dallon. He was saying that it was worse for you guys to let me stay than it was for you guys to kick out Brent’s people. I get it.”

“But you aren’t human anymore. I don’t get--”

Josh scoffed. “Are you kidding me? So I’m better now because I’m no longer human. Got it.”

“Josh--” he ended the call and turned to look at himself in the mirror. He still looked the same as he had when he was human, well, despite his eyes (and his different hair color.) Josh never really understood why talents could be so cruel when talking about humans. Sure, they were stronger, faster, and could do things much better, but that didn’t mean humans were worthless. Josh thought he had been a pretty decent human being.

He was really starting to regret turning down Mr. Joseph’s offer. Part of him still wondered if Mr. Joseph still had the cure available.

With a sigh, Josh peeled the rest of his clothes off and jumped into the freezing cold shower.

\---

The next morning, Josh approached home with his hands in his pockets. He inputted the code, stepped through the door, and watched it swing shut.

The light turned on.

“Jish?”

Josh didn’t turn around. He knew it was Tyler.

“Please talk to me,” Tyler began pleading as Josh swung on his heel and walked past him with his chin pointed towards the ceiling. He was going to shun him for as long as it took to make him feel better. “J, I feel terrible. Can we please talk about what happened?”

“I thought maybe you’d understand why I don’t want to talk to you,” Josh replied, picking up his pace. Tyler matched it perfectly.

“I know I made things worse. This month has been an absolute whirlwind of chaos and I know you’ve been struggling. I’m so sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it in the way you thought I did.”

Oh great, did every single person here think Josh was an idiot? This was practically the same conversation he had with Dallon. “I know exactly what you meant. You thought it was stupid and horrible that our clan, oh, excuse me, your clan, was more willing to house a disgusting, gross human than continue to let your own kind stay with you.”

“Okay, when you put it that way, it sounds a lot worse.”

“Really, Tyler? What pathetic excuse do you have that makes it not sound that bad?” Josh stopped and spun around to face his boyfriend. It was weird, feeling all this rage towards the person who at one point felt the same way. “What you said hurt. It hurt really bad. The human race is great, okay? Sure, there are some bad people, but overall, we’ve done some pretty great things.”

“I was just...” Tyler sighed. “I was trying to make everyone feel bad. That whole thing that happened yesterday, it was so shitty! Vecchio and Boyd, Soren too, have done so much for our clan.”

“What you did was pretty shitty too, don’t you think? What Ty, do you  _ still  _ hate me? Are you still wishing that everyone here would have kicked me out instead of being nice to me? What were you thinking when you said that?”

“I didn’t know you were there.”

Josh laughed harshly. “Because that makes it so much better.”

“It doesn’t. I’m so sorry. I love you more than anything in the world, and the fact that I said that... you’re right. It was shitty. There is absolutely no part of me that wishes we would have kicked you out. You did just as much for us, if not more, than Vecchio and Boyd.”

“You know I love you too, but there’s something here that just isn’t working.” 

Tyler turned pale. “You aren’t saying--”

“I think I am.”

“Over this?”

“Answer me honestly. Do you remember that conversation we had when I was trying to decide whether or not to go through with your dad’s cure?”

“Yeah, but--”

“You wanted me to stay like this, because I can  _ finally  _ keep up with you. Because you can’t hurt me, and Blurry can touch me, and I agree that those are all really great reasons. But there’s always been a part of me that thought you would have reacted differently if I had been a talent to begin with. Or, what if Brent had never done this to me? What if I was still human?”

“Our relationship would be exactly the same.”

Josh gave him a sad look. “Would it?”

Tyler didn’t respond.

“I just think it’s for the best.” Tears burned at the corners of Josh’s eyes. He never thought he’d have to do this, not again. He thought he and Tyler would get married someday. “Us together, it’s never been a traditional relationship from the beginning. A human and a talent. Then some sort of human-talent hybrid and a talent, and what’s next? What if I get kidnapped again?”

“You won’t,” Tyler promised. He was beginning to cry too. “I won’t let that happen.”

“I don’t want you getting hurt because of the way I am. I honestly think that maybe,” Josh paused to swallow his growing need to sob, “it’d be better all together if I were to leave and go back to Ohio to live with my parents. I could take some classes, get a real job, be normal again-- well, as normal as I can be.”

“Josh, please be rational--”

“I am being rational. This is better for the both of us. Safer, too. It’s much harder for people to hunt me down when I’m hidden by a bunch of humans, right?”

“You can’t leave me. You can’t leave us.” His eyes flickered red for a brief second.

“I have to, Ty.” Tears finally broke the surface. Josh took a heavy breath. “We have to break up.”

“No.” Tyler’s voice broke. “No. Josh, no--”

“I’m sorry, but it’s for the best.” Josh turned to leave. Tyler yanked painfully on his shoulder.

“It’s not for the best! I love you, you just said you loved me... we, we were supposed to grow old together, we’re the only ones that--” Tyler stopped himself short.  _ Oh. _ That’s right. The both of them, they were immortal, and someday, everyone else was going to die.

And they weren’t.

“I love you,” Tyler said again, tears running rivers down his cheeks. He reached sloppily for Josh’s shoulder once more. “I’m so sorry I fucked up, but you can’t do this. You can’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Josh stepped away, his shoulder burning where Tyler had touched it. He continued down the hallway and didn’t look back.

\---

The building turned silent. By the end of the day, everyone had heard about Tyler and Josh’s breakup. Josh had went to his room to pack a bag. Tyler ventured back to the basement and collapsed on his bed, his conscience hiding itself in the back of his head.

Mikey knocked on Josh’s open door with a sympathetic look on his face. Josh was currently in the middle of putting his toiletries into his duffle bag. Half his stuff was downstairs with Tyler, since where they slept or spent time depended heavily on how they felt. Josh decided he would be fine without it.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Josh said back, forcing a tight smile. He leaned against the bathroom doorframe. “What’s up?”

“I uh, heard you and Tyler broke up.”

“Yeah. I’m leaving.”

“You-- you’re  _ leaving? _ Josh, you can’t leave.”

“I have to. It’s safer for you guys and for me. Besides, you decided to let a human stay, which apparently is much worse than letting Lou and his friends stay, so.”

“Kicking them out was much,  _ much _ worse. Josh, we love you. For you to leave us would be like losing a family member.”

“I’m sorry then. I’ll miss you too, Mikey.” Josh shook his head. “I have to do this. I’m so sorry.”

“Do the others know?” 

“No.”

“Were you going to tell them?”

A pause. “No.”

“Oh Josh.” Mikey looked ready to cry. “You can’t do that.”

“Goodbye’s are too hard. I’ll see you later, okay? I’ll see everyone else tomorrow. It’s a brand new day. We’ll uh, go see a movie or something.”

Mikey sniffed and forced a smile. “Okay. Okay, yeah. Where you heading?”

“Back to Ohio. I’m gonna stay with my parents for a little while and figure things out from there.”

“Let me take you.”

“It’s okay, I can run.”

“Please.” Josh couldn’t say no.

“Alright.”

“Just a second.” Mikey disappeared and reappeared two seconds later with a small box in his hand. He offered it to Josh. “My parents are wealthy, and Gerard and I... we didn’t want to be takers all the time, so anytime they’d send us money, we’d put it in this box, just in case an emergency ever arose where we’d need it. When Tyler brought us here, it seemed like we’d never need it again. There’s about five grand in cash. I want you to have it.”

“Mikey, this is a nice offer, but I can’t take this.”

He pressed harder, practically shoving the box into Josh’s hands. “Please. It’s a gift. You have to take gifts. This will help you land an apartment, and keep you on your feet until you find a job.”

As much as Josh wanted to keep declining, he knew it really would help. He put the box into his duffle bag with everything else. “Thank you man, this really means a lot.”

“Anything to help family. When do you want to leave?”

“This evening. Maybe around six. Ohio is a few hours ahead, so it’ll be later and I won’t be completely scaring my parents.”

Mikey nodded. “I’ll be back in an hour then.”

Josh pulled him into a hug.

\---

He spent his last hour saying his goodbyes without ever saying the word goodbye. The people willing to tolerate him got hugs. Many had questions-- Brendon turned into some genius detective when Josh promised things were fine. He wasn’t buying it.

“You two were in love. How could you just... break up?”

“Things are complicated, B. You were there. I told you everything that happened. It’s better this way.”

“You aren’t giving up on your relationship, are you?”

“I’d call it taking a break.” Josh pulled Brendon into one last tight hug. “I love you, you know that?”

“Of course I do. I love you too. Hey, we never got to listen to our soundtracks. You up for that later tonight?”

Josh flashed a sad smile. “Of course.”

He gave his hugs to Spencer, to Hayley, to Dallon, Patrick, and even Pete, smiling through their weird looks. Patrick tried to press Josh about the break up as well, but Josh promised everything was fine, and he stopped.

At 6 o’clock sharp, Mikey appeared back in Josh’s bedroom. “You ready?”

Josh shrugged his bag onto his shoulder. He realized he never said a final goodbye to Tyler. “I’m ready.”

“Do you know the address?”

“Of course.” Mikey latched a hand on Josh’s shoulder as he recited his parent’s address from memory. “Close your eyes. Sometimes it makes people sick when we land someplace else.”

Josh obeyed, slamming his eyelids closed. His drumkit caught his eye.  _ Goodbye, old friend. _

For a second, Josh felt like he defying gravity before his feet hit hard gravel. He cracked an eyelid open. There was his parents house.

Mikey let go to take a step back. Josh pulled him into another hug.

“Good luck. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

“I will,” Josh whispered, not wanting to let go. “You changed my life, you know that? If you hadn’t left that door unlocked, I’d be dead.”

“Hey. Save the sappy stuff for tomorrow, okay? I’ll come get you. We can go out for breakfast.”

Josh scoffed. “Yeah. That sounds good.” They detached, and one smile later, Mikey was gone. With a deep breath, Josh turned towards his childhood home and walked up the stairs. He straightened his back, adjusted the strap of his bag, and knocked on the door. He waited nervously, his foot tapping against the cement porch, as the foyer light turned on and the door swung open.

His mother blinked. “Josh?”

“Hey, Mom.”

\---

The next morning, Dallon pushed open the double doors to Tyler’s room and called his name. “Tyler! Where are you? This is an emergency.”

“In here,” Tyler mumbled from his bedroom, more towards his pillow than in response to the healer. Dallon’s head popped from around the corner.

“Woah. Tyler, it’s been a day.”

Tyler pushed a couple empty beer cans off his pillow. He had put Blurry in control the previous night; whatever he had done was his business. “I wasn’t exactly myself last night. What’s wrong?”

“Josh is gone. Again.”

A sigh. “I know.”

“You-- what? You know?”

“He went back to Ohio. Said it was better that way. That he’d be safe from the people trying to find Brent’s ‘proof’ and that we’d be safe from any more attacks.”

“Is that why you guys broke up?”

“Way to pour salt in an open wound, Dal.” Tyler moved further up his bed and rubbed his fingers across his five o’clock shadow. “It’s my fault we broke up. I should have never said that shit about humans that night. Now I’ve lost Vecchio, Boyd, Soren,  _ and _ Josh.” Realization hit him like a stack of bricks, and suddenly it made sense why Blurry had taken the reigns. “Oh my God. Josh.”

Tyler burst into tears. “He’s gone. I can’t believe he’s gone.”

“Oh Tyler,” Dallon took two strides to get to the side of Tyler’s bed and pulled him into a big hug. “It’ll be okay, I promise. I know things seem dark--”

“You don’t understand,” he hiccuped, “this is my fault. It’s  _ my _ fault this time. It’s not that we can’t touch, or that he got kidnapped, it’s because I was a stupid asshole.”

“Tensions are often high after a breakup. You guys will get the chance to talk once you’ve both had time. And who knows? Maybe this will strengthen your relationship. Maybe he really will be safer back in Ohio.”

Tyler sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “Maybe. I just, I don’t want to go back to life before Josh. I was miserable. I hated myself. He changed me.”

“Then don’t go back to how life was before. Keep living like Josh is still here.” Dallon sighed. “What you said really wasn’t the best thing  _ to _ say.”

“I know that. I know I fucked up. I was just so  _ angry,  _ and we, we were raised knowing we weren’t human. We were raised knowing we were stronger and faster and overall better than humans. To pick a human over our own kind, that’s like saving a stray cat over your own family.”

“Josh  _ is _ family.”

“I know that!” he hadn’t meant to shout, but that’s how it came out. Dallon frowned. “I love him, Dallon. I love him more than anything in the fucking world. I loved him when he was human, but he was right. He was right that I would have loved him differently if he would have been a talent from the beginning and he’s right that our relationship would be different if he were  _ still _ human. And I hate myself for that.”

“He loves you just as much, you know. I could feel his love for you far before he realized it himself. We aren’t perfect. No one is perfect. There are going to be things about Josh that bother you and things about you that bother Josh. No relationship is without problems.”

“He thinks I hate the entire human race still.”

Dallon quirked up an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“I don’t hate the  _ entire _ human race. I love Josh’s family.”

“And you love Josh.”

“He’s not--” Tyler stopped once Dallon made a face. “Fine. I guess there’s a part of him that is still human.”

“I think it bothers him that we don’t see him as what he is. Josh tries to forget what happened to him. By us constantly trying to prove he’s no longer human makes him more and more upset.”

Tyler sighed. “Yeah. I understand that.”

“He’s heartbroken about breaking up with you. His sorrow is so deep, my bones are aching. He’s trying to protect us. That was the biggest reason he broke up with you, not because of what you said.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.” Dallon patted his leg. “Give him some time. Distract yourself. Then you guys can have another talk.”

“Thank you. Honestly. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’ve done a lot for me. We’re family. Josh is family. He’ll come back.”

\---

Josh pushed his half eaten eggs around on his plate. He had doused them in so much salt it reminded him off the eggs he ate back home, and away went his appetite.

His mother sat down across from him at the dinner table and sighed. “Joshua, I’ve given you the night, just like you asked. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Dad’s at work, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you haven’t told him about the... you know?” He snapped his fingers, causing a small flame to appear between his middle finger and thumb, almost like he had lit a match. His mother’s eyes widened, even though she was well aware of this. Josh had visited a few times before, but had never used his powers around her since that cold, snowy day.

“No. I haven’t told anyone my son can combust into flames.”

Josh scoffed as the flame evaporated. “Yeah, I can see that being a strange conversation starter.”

“Honey.” She laid her hand on top of his. “You showed up unannounced at nine o’clock in the evening. Something is obviously wrong. Plus, you don’t have a car. What’d you do, take a taxi all this way? That’s like, what, a forty hour drive?”

“A friend dropped me off. He can, uh, teleport.”

She blinked. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. Under any normal circumstance, I don’t think I would've believed that, but if you can catch on fire, who knows what else could happen?”

“I broke up with Tyler.” He didn’t look up. Josh knew what he’d see. Sympathy, just like everyone else had given him back home.

“You-- why? You guys seemed so happy last time you visited!” They had come down for Christmas. It had been the first time Josh had seen any of his siblings in years, and yeah, he had been happy.  _ They _ had been happy. 

But that had also been before Josh learned that people were looking to sell him on the black market.

“Our relationship wasn’t having problems. It was more of because of the way I am.”

“Because of what happened to you?” She frowned, her hand tightening around Josh’s. “There aren’t more people out there that are like you, are there? A hybrid? Isn’t that what you’ve been saying?”

“I’m the first successful human to be turned into a talent. Except, you know, not fully. Because I’m still sorta, kinda human. It’s a mess, honestly, and really confusing. No, there aren’t others like me, but if a bad person gets their hands on me, then bad things are going to happen.”

“You-- are you saying people are out there  _ looking _ for you? Josh, we need to call the police! If bad people want to hurt you--”

“More like sell me to scientists, but yeah, pretty much. The police aren’t going to do anything. What are you going to tell them? Your talent-human hybrid son is in danger of being kidnapped by crazy people? Your son, who can combust into flames, is in danger of being sold on the black market? I dunno Mom, if someone told me that, I’d think they were on crack or something.”

“So you broke up with him because you didn’t want to drag him into this.”

“That was part of it, yeah.” Josh sniffed and went back to poking at his now cold eggs. “I’m safer here, being disguised by a bunch of humans. They are safer not having me around. We’ve already gone to hell and a handbasket once, me staying there would have possibly made it happen again. Plus, Tyler sorta said some hurtful shit about humans. Maybe it was stupid, I don’t know.”

“As a fellow human, I’d think I take offense to hurtful shit as well.”

“Mom, how are you so cool about this? I can literally light myself on fire. I’m literally a fucking comic book character. What, are you secretly Wonder Woman?”

“All mothers are wonder women,” she replied cheerfully. “Josh, baby, you are still my son, no matter what. I’d love you even if you were four inches tall and had a tail. I think most mothers would agree with me. You are welcome to stay here as long as you need, sweetheart.”

“Thank you, that means a lot. I think you are the most wonderful woman of them all.”

She grinned, pushed out from the table, and took his plate. “Let’s go get coffee and donuts. You can eat cold, salty eggs later.”

“Yeah, okay. That sounds nice.” When she left the room, Josh looked down at his phone to check the time, and found himself staring at his lockscreen that he was yet to change. It was a picture of Tyler, his back facing the camera, his face caught in candid determination as his fingers flowed flawless across a sea of piano keys. A small, sad smile rose to Josh’s lips, and it didn’t take long before burning tears followed.

His mother’s voice came from the kitchen. “Go get some shoes on, I know how many times you men need to stop in the mirror and fix your hair before we go out into public. Besides, do you know how  _ long _ the lines are at Starbucks?”

“Uh, yeah--” Josh’s voice cracked, and he paused to clear it, “I’ll do that now.”

He looked down at his phone, picked some random sample lockscreen from the selection, and wiped a few fallen tears away as Tyler was replaced by rolling, blue waves.

_ I love you, _ he thought, hoping that somehow Tyler had heard him all the way back in California.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that I'm going out of town so the next update will be sometime next week!


	5. Sweet Dreams (Are Not Made of This)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To celebrate Tour De Columbus (which I have just arrived home from), this last show at the Schott, and the end of an era, here's a new chapter.
> 
> I could go on and on about the community Blurryface brought me into and all the awesome people I've met along the way. Instead, I'll keep it short and sweet.
> 
> This album inspired LAM and me in general. It brought me here, to supportive and kind people, and some of the greatest friends I've ever had. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart; here's to a new era, new music, and new friends. |-/

With outstretched arms, a man no older than 22 limped through the woods, his hands pressed against a wound in his abdomen where he was bleeding out. He had done that to himself, per the request of his creator.

“The talents must die,” he muttered, clenching his teeth, “all must die. I will kill them. I will kill the evil one, I will find the special one.”

He approached the darkness and pressed forward. Already was he doing better than his predecessor.

A white blur zoomed past him. The man screamed and hurried his pace. He could do this. He could do this, for his creator. His creator had given him everything. He had to do this for his creator, he owned this much to them.

A blonde man appeared in front of him. With a grunt, he removed a hand from his blood soaked wound and swung towards him in a fit of rage.

“Mikey, look out!” The blonde man ducked out of the way.

He must kill. The talents must die. He must find the special one.

With one last breath, the injured man tumbled to the forest floor.

\---

Tyler sighed as he bent down and observed the third rabid talent laying in front of him. He ran a hand through his hair.

“He stabbed himself,” Mikey said quietly. They were in the middle of Jack’s handiwork, which made the forest look like something from a haunted mansion. Birds still chirped above them, but it sounded much more sadistic than normal.

“He mentioned finding the ‘special one.’” Gerard continued, wrapping his arms around himself. Dallon crouched down and reached out to push up the man’s shirt to further inspect his wound.

“This thing’s deep. He had no issue with going all out.”

“Poor guy,” Pete murmured, his arms crossed. He seemed to be a lot more calmer now that Vecchio, Boyd, and Soren were gone. In ways, it made Tyler even more furious. There was a part of him (actually, Blurry was definitely that part of him) that believed Josh would still be around if Pete hadn’t been such a fucking asshole.

“Okay, something is definitely weird now. Tyler, is there any way you could get ahold of Vecchio? This seems really important.”

“No way,” Pete exclaimed, stepping out of his stance. “They aren’t coming back. Things are finally nice here without them.”

Tyler’s fingertips twitched.  _ Maybe we should kick him out, _ Blurry muttered.

“I don’t think you really get a say in that.”

Pete grunted. “Considering I did most of the leader stuff for like, I don’t know, half the time we’ve lived here, I think I do get a say in this. And I say we don’t need them. We can solve whatever is going on ourselves.”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “Okay then, Pete, please explain to us what we can do to solve this problem.”

“Okay, well, look. We’ve had three of these crazy, rabid people show up on  _ our  _ land in  _ our  _ woods, each one getting significantly closer to us. I highly doubt this is a coincidence by this point, don’t you think?”

“Do you think someone is after us?” Mikey asked, twisting his fingers together nervously. 

Gerard took a step away from the body. “You don’t think this is another Brent situation, do you?” He looked just as nervous as his brother.

Tyler stepped forward, causing everyone to look at him. “I think maybe we should start taking this more seriously.”

Mikey’s eyes widened. “You aren’t saying--”

“No, we can’t be going through this again--”

“Tyler, this is what I’ve been saying for weeks now! We need to bunker down and fight this out.” Pete stepped forward as well, matching Tyler’s rigid stance. “Those words left your mouth. That means you agree with me.”

“I’m not  _ agreeing _ with you,” Tyler muttered. “All I’m saying is that we should start paying more attention to this. Gerard, Mikey, I think you guys should start surveilling just a bit more. We can start rotating everyone, that way you guys can have a break. We need to figure out where these people are coming from, and make sure they don’t get to their intended target: us.”

“Shit,” Mikey breathed. “Guess it makes sense why Josh left.”

“Mikey!” Gerard’s eyes grew wide. “Dude!”

“No, it’s okay.” Tyler sighed. He knew why Josh had left, and now that he knew someone was after them, he was feeling even worse about it. How could he have not believed his own boyfriend? “Josh had felt nervous about this whole thing for awhile. I guess it would have better to listen to him, huh?” he scoffed. “Right. Well. Back to work, I guess.”

“What about--” Pete started, his stoic glare back. Tyler happily cut him off.

“I don’t care. Do whatever. I’m going back to my room.”

“Tyler,” Dallon began, looking quite upset that Tyler was running away from his duties, “You can’t just give up--”

“I’m NOT!” Tyler exploded into a hot mess, his eyes flickering with red. Blurry began clawing up his throat. “I’m not fucking giving up. We can’t call the fucking police this time. What are we going to tell them? They aren’t even going to be able to find this poor guy all the way out here. Just, I don’t know, burn the body or something. Give him the proper send off. I can’t deal with this problem right now. Pete can take care of it.”

Pete’s face lit up in surprise, while Mikey and Gerard’s filled with fear.

“I’m putting us into full lockdown,” Pete said, testing his waters, wondering if Tyler would stop him, “which means nobody new is allowed in.”

“Whatever.” Tyler continued walking away.

“Tyler,” Dallon tried again, but Tyler was not having it. He let Blurry take over, his eyes bright crimson as he flipped back around this time. His lips twisted into a growl and his nostrils flared.

“Tyler is away for now. Deal with this problem yourself.”

And with that, Blurry walked away.

\---

Josh had a job interview today. He was excited, because it was for the record store he had gone to as a teenager almost every weekend. The store was covered in old movie and band posters and painted a hundred different bright colors. It smelled like old vinyl, which was one of his favorite smells in the whole wide world,  _ and _ they had everything from Bill Haley and His Comets to the Foo Fighters. Getting this job would be the first step towards achieving a normal life.

He had been staying with his parents for a week now, and sleeping up in his brother’s old room. Josh only saw his father in the evenings after he got home from work, where they would play a card game or watch some sports match on television. They didn’t exactly talk much, but it was obvious Josh’s father was glad his son was back in his life. It was also obvious he was sorry for kicking Josh out all those years ago. It almost seemed like he was trying to make up for it by being over-the-top nice every chance he got.

Josh’s mother, who stayed at home during the day, was around a lot more to spend time with her son, and for that, Josh was thankful. He loved his mom, and getting to see her as much as he had this week was something he never really guessed he’d need.

“What time’s your interview?” she asked as she set down a mug of black coffee in front of Josh. Josh thanked her and raised the mug to his lips. Thank God for coffee; he had no idea what he’d do without it.

“Noon.”

She sat down across from him and grinned. “That’s so awesome! By the way, I found an apartment listing in downtown Columbus. I thought maybe we could take a look at it later today. It’s the best one I’ve found so far and is totally affordable! Of course, your father and I are willing to help you out in any way possible; I know you said you had some cash but we’d love to help.”

“You guys don’t have to give me any money,” Josh replied. He always had a problem with accepting gifts and help from people. There was a part of him that knew he’d never be able to return the favor fully, and that bothered him.

“It’s the least we can do, sweetheart.” she reached out for his hand, and Josh squeezed back. “We just got you back into our lives. We will do anything we can to make up for all those missed years.”

“There was fault on both ends,” Josh started, but his mother was having none of it.

“Let’s not start that up again Joshua. I’m just happy I’ve got you back. I love you a lot.” She stood up and reached for Josh’s plate of half eaten toast. “That apartment complex has a gorgeous pool and a tennis court, which I think some exercise would be really great for you, help you release all that energy stowing in your bones.”

“Tennis, huh?”Josh smiled.

“You’d beat everyone you’d play! Aren’t you like, super fast?”

He scoffed. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

His mother disappeared into the kitchen to do dishes, and Josh ran his fingers through his bright yellow hair as he listened to running water. He was happy his mother hadn’t told him the classic “you aren’t going to get a job with tattoos or hair like that” statement, although he was a little bit afraid that would happen somehow. The people working there had seemed pretty cool when he had come in; one of the employee’s had pink streaks in her hair. Josh was sure he’d get the job, but his anxiety was starting to make him second guess himself.

“Hey.” Josh looked up. His mother was leaning against the kitchen counter and wiping her hands on a dish towel. “Your interview is going go great, okay?”

“How’d you know I was worried?”

“You're my son. I can tell a lot about you.” she winked. “You’re home now, and you are safe. Things can be normal again.”

Josh sighed. Yeah, that was what he wanted, even though his life was far from normal. Moving on was good, right? He tried to think about what he had done the last time he had gotten out of a serious relationship. Josh was pretty sure he just went on with his life, got back in the dating pool, and distracted himself. Problem was, he knew he couldn’t just “get back into the dating pool.” Josh still loved Tyler. Although it had been really nice seeing his parents, it was difficult not being around Tyler. For  _ four years,  _ Tyler had been his everything, and now that Tyler was gone, Josh had nothing.

“Thanks Mom,” he finally said, sighing again. Josh stood up. “I guess I’ll go get dressed. What should I wear? It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a job interview.”

“Khakis and a nice button up shirt,” she suggested, setting the towel down on the table. “Here, I’ll come up and help you.” She buttoned him up and smiled proudly. “There’s no way you won’t secure that job now.”

“Thank you,” Josh said again. His mother pulled him in for a hug, and dragged him up the stairs.

\---

Tyler wondered how Josh had been the past week. He wondered if he was just as lost and upset as Tyler felt.

For half of his life, he had fought tooth and nail against Blurry for control. That meant avoiding things that would give his counterpart the upper hand, like alcohol. But this time, now that they were on good terms, Tyler was letting Blurry do whatever the hell he wanted, and that meant being drunk off his ass at 2 in the afternoon.

An embarrassing amount of beer cans cluttered his room, and Tyler hadn’t even wanted to take control long enough to clean up. Nobody had really come down to talk to him; they knew he was dealing with a bad breakup and didn’t want to be around people. Besides, Pete had resumed his role as leader, so people could take their problems to him. Tyler really had no idea what Pete had done with the place in the past week since they had found a third rabid talent. Had they found any more? Were people worried for their lives, worried something like the Brent situation would happen again? Just as much as everyone else, he didn’t want that to happen.

Tyler wanted Josh back. 

_ Hey dude. You awake? Or something? _

Oh, that was Blurry. Who had control? Was Tyler still wasted? Jesus, he didn’t think he had ever not been able to tell who had control.

Tyler attempted to wiggle his fingers. They moved.

Okay, so yeah, he had control.

_ Tyler, get your shit together. _

“You’re the one who got me hammered this week,” he mumbled, pressing a palm to his forehead as he sat up. Blurry laughed.

_ Actually, I’ve barely had control all week. Kinda hard for either one of us to be in charge when you’re passed out drunk. So maybe, I don’t know, call Josh or something. Stop being a little bitch. _

“Since when do you give relationship advice?” Tyler scoffed as he slowly moved himself off his bed and shuffled towards the bathroom. Yikes, he even looked like a mess. His hair was greasy and his face was covered in a couple week’s worth of scruff. Tyler really couldn’t grow a full beard without working really hard, but yeah, he looked pretty bad.

_ Since you started acting like a hopeless baby. _

“Oh, fuck you,” Tyler muttered. He really didn’t want to call Josh just yet. Maybe he would clean himself up. Something smelled suspiciously like vomit.

_ I miss him just as much as you do, but you don’t see me being all miserable and shit. _

“Then why don’t you fucking call him?” He turned on the facet and held his hand underneath it until the water burned his skin. Perfect.

_ I think he’d rather hear from you. _

“If he wanted to hear from me, he would have called by now.” Tyler pulled off his shirt, shimmied out of his joggers, and peeled off his sweaty boxers. He stared at himself in the mirror.

What had Josh ever seen in him?

With a scoff, Tyler got into the shower and let the stream swallow him whole.  _ You don’t know that, Tyler. He seemed pretty distraught about the breakup, just as much as you and I were. _

“Go back to being a dick,” he muttered. Blurry cackled.

_ He could be thinking the same thing, you know. That you don’t want to hear from him. _

Tyler leaned his head against the shower wall. “I thought... I thought this shit wouldn’t happen again. That after I got Josh back from Brent, we could go back to a normal life. But now... Josh doesn’t feel safe. I’m sure others don’t feel safe either, and that fucking terrifies me. I don’t want to go through this again. I don’t think I have the strength to go through this again.”

_ We’re together this time. We’ll protect Josh. And I guess if that means protecting everyone else as well, I’ll put up with your stupid friends too. _

“I’ll call him,” Tyler decided.

_ Hey, way to take my advice. _ Tyler rolled his eyes. He squirted some shampoo into his hands and began to rub it in his hair.

After Tyler finished his ten minute shower, he dried off quickly, changed into a fresh pair of boxers, and sat down at his desk, kicking his feet up onto the edge as he clicked on Josh’s contact and mentally prepared himself for the sound of Josh’s voice. He wondered what Josh was up to.

The phone rang three times before it connected. Blurry waited with Tyler in anticipation.

“Hello?”

“Josh. Hey.” Tyler swallowed. His voice still sounded rich, like velvet, dark chocolate, and fallen leaves all wrapped into one. “I uhm... I don’t exactly know how to start this conversation.”

“Yeah.” Josh cleared his throat. “I wasn’t actually expecting you to call me.”

“At all?”

“Not at all. I mean, just, so early.”

“It’s been several days,” argued Tyler as he moved his feet to the floor and sat up straighter. “I thought maybe it was time. So... how are you? How are... things?”

“Fine. I got a job today, so, that’s a step in the right direction.”

“Oh, that’s great! Where at?”

“This record store downtown. I used to go there a ton when I was a kid. Everyone said I fit right in, so that made me feel a lot better. My mom and I are actually on our way down to check out this apartment complex, see if it’s somewhere I could live.”

He was looking at apartments  _ and _ got a job? Josh was moving quickly. Did he seriously plan on not coming back? That couldn’t be right. Tyler didn’t think that was going to happen, at least, not this early.

“Wow. That’s, uh, really awesome Josh. Congrats.”

“Thanks. How have things been back home?”

“Not as good. We found another rabid talent. I think maybe you were right, that they’re apart of something more. We’re trying to figure that out.”

“Are they getting closer?”

“Yeah. The third one had actually entered Jack’s darkness cloud thing. He stabbed himself, too, really deep. Like he was trying to kill himself or something.”

“Joshua, who is that?” Tyler overheard Josh’s mother ask. “What are you guys talking about?”

“It’s a friend Mom, chill out.” Okay, that stung a bit. Tyler ignored the feeling as Josh continued. “Anyways. Was he still muttering about crazy stuff?”

“Yeah. He said he was looking for the special one.”

“Me?” Josh sounded  _ so sure.  _

“Maybe. Anyways, I just wanted to apologize for putting you off like that. You were right, and your safety is my top priority. So I’m going to make this place safe again, for you. We’ll stop whoever is looking for you and make sure they never bother you again.”

“Look,” Josh sighed, “as long as I’m like this, people are going to keep looking for me, and that puts you and everyone there in danger.”

“Then we’ll go back to my dad and ask him to go through with the cure.”

“Then I really won’t be able to be in a relationship with you.”

“I thought you said this was a friend?” His mother raised her voice.

“Mom, please. I’ll talk to you about it in a second, okay?” Josh sighed again. Tyler heard fumbling on his end of the line. “Tyler, I love you. I love you a lot. But I think we need to focus on the fact that our relationship may not be able to be saved.”

“How can you say that?” Tyler was up now and pacing rapidly. “I know I made a mistake. I know I’ve made several mistakes, but that’s part of being in a relationship! You and your partner make mistakes and then you apologize and talk them out. Josh, I loved you when you were human. Yeah, I hated humans. You changed the way I saw them. There’s always going to be a part of me that sees humans as lower than talents, because that’s how I was raised. I’m sorry I was so insensitive about what you wanted to be perceived as. I know you got upset that we weren’t seeing you as the person you saw yourself as. I’m willing to work on that. I’m willing to give up everything just to  _ be with you. _ Now that I had a taste of what our relationship was like, I don’t want to give it up. I want you here next to me. I want to kiss you. I want to--” Tyler’s eyes suddenly shifted into a dark, red hue, “Fuck you against a wall.”

Josh chuckled sadly. “Hello to you too, BF.”

Blurry let Tyler slide back into control as he giggled lamely to himself. Tyler rolled his eyes. “All I’m saying is that I don’t want to let you go. I’m not ready, nor willing, to let you go. I’m going to fight for you. That’s what being in a relationship is all about. I am willing to put myself into danger because I love you. Look what you did for me. I would not be the person I am today if it wasn’t for you.”

“You don’t know that,” Josh tried to argue, but Tyler wasn’t putting up with that.

“I  _ do _ know that. For certain. I want you back.”

“I’m sorry Ty, but I can’t come back. At least, not now. Not until I know you guys aren’t going to be in danger while I’m around.” A door slammed. Tyler heard Mrs. Dun’s voice faintly. He figured they must have arrived at their destination. “Sorry, I have to go. Tyler, it’s probably best if we don’t talk again for a while.”

“Are you kidding me? Now you’re shutting me out of your life?” Tyler was growing angrier by the second.

“It’s for our safety. It’s not hard to listen to phone conversations, you know. The police do it all the time. It’s only a safety precaution.”

“Josh. I love you. You love me. We can’t just--”

“Stop saying that, okay? It’s for our own good. Goodbye, Tyler.”

“Josh, fuck, NO!” It was too late. The phone call ended. Tyler clicked on Josh’s contact again and again, but each time it went directly to voicemail. That son of a bitch. Did Josh fucking  _ block him? _

Tyler screamed, and in a fit of rage, threw his phone across the room as hard as he could. Blurry tried to stop him from causing any more damage, but Tyler was already long gone. He flipped chairs, sent stacks of papers fluttering to the ground, punched the walls. Josh was not only gone, but wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. For Tyler’s  _ safety. _

“Yeah?” Tyler shouted at no one. “Fuck my safety.”

He wished he could go back in time and punch himself in the face a good thousand times. Was it bad that he was wishing he had never met Josh?

“Fuck you,” he finally muttered, sinking to the floor. He tucked his head in between his knees and tried to calm his breathing.

_ I’m sorry, _ Blurry murmured.

“Fuck you,” Tyler said again. They had won the battle, all those years ago, but he was stupid.

Tyler had lost the war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're wading knee deep in angst here but these next couple of chapters have things getting better. We're getting there, slowly but surely.
> 
> Josh is an asshole.


	6. Crazy, Stupid Josh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot thickens.

Another week passed. 

Another rabid talent was found. It was another girl this time, with deep lacerations on her arms and across her abdomen. She was even closer than the last person.

Tyler still remained down in his room. Pete decided he was going to make the best of his time in power.

The entire building was in lockdown. Nobody was allowed to leave without first informing Pete first, and were only allowed _ to _ leave if it was important or an emergency. Everyone was on high alert, and a bit afraid that the virus would reach them. Pete assured them that wouldn’t happen. He wouldn’t allow it.

The day Tyler’s father called, Tyler himself was completely out of it. Even though it was late in the afternoon, he was buried under his covers, his head shoved under a pillow. Tyler hadn’t eaten in days, hadn’t showered since last week (when he had forced himself to call Josh) and had hardly moved from his bed. Instead of beer, he had turned to a bottle of wine Patrick and Pete had given Josh and Tyler on their three year anniversary. In a way, it made him feel even more depressed. They hadn’t even gotten to their four year anniversary before Josh had left him.

The point, however, was that alcohol was alcohol, and Tyler was buzzed after consuming a good portion of the bottle.

When his phone rang, he groaned and pushed his pillow tighter around his ears. If he let it go to voicemail, maybe whoever was calling would think he was unavailable.

Nope. It rang again, and again, and again.

“For God’s sake,” Tyler muttered, his hand snaking out of his blankets to wrap around his phone. Oh, it was his father.

Tyler declined the call.

_ Old man seems to really want to get ahold of you. _

“He can deal. I’m busy.”

_ Yeah, you’re also a little drunk. Dude, stop doing this. You’re making a fool of yourself. _

“Fuck you.” That seemed to be Tyler’s new catchphrase. A series of texts poured in from his father, one written in all caps.  _ EMERGENCY!!! _

_ Talk to him. What if it’s about Josh? _

“Josh don’t care about me,” Tyler mumbled, but he reached out for his phone anyways. Right before he was about to click on his father’s contact, low and behold, Father Joseph was calling for a fifth time. “Sup,” he answered groggily, pushing himself farther up the mattress. Blurry sighed and called Tyler an idiot.

“Tyler, this is very important. It has to do with Josh.”

“Sounds like a ‘him’ problem.” He rubbed at his eyes. “What?”

“Where is he? Tell me he’s with you.”

“Nu-uh. We broke up. He said  _ Adios  _ and disappeared.” Tyler’s speech slurred a little at the end, and he hoped his dad wouldn’t notice.

_ “What?” _ His father grew panicked. “Tyler, this is serious! Are you  _ drunk?” _

“Nah, just a little buzzed I think.” He blinked. “He’s gone. Poof. Away.”

“We can’t talk about this through phone or text or any sort of technology. They might be listening.”

“They?”

“Just, get down here as soon as you can, okay? I can further explain things then. Are you okay to drive?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Fantastic. See you in a bit.” The call ended, Tyler shoved his phone back under his pillow, and snuggled back under his blankets. He’d take just a small nap before he went to his parent’s house.

_ Get up. Now. _

“No.”

_ Quit acting like you are five years old and get the fuck out of bed. _

Tyler could feel him. Blurry was clawing up his throat, pushing on his lungs, reaching for power, and Tyler did not have the strength to push him away. He was briefly reminded of the old days, when fighting for power was almost a daily struggle, and he would find himself losing often.

His eyes turned red, his fingertips tingled, and seconds later, Blurry was flying across the room, pulling open the door, and rushing up the stairs. He knew people were still nervous with him being around, and tended to avoid him at all costs. And yes, Blurry knew he was the equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster, but that didn’t stop him from getting pissed off. These weren’t his friends. He simply tolerated them because they were Tyler’s.

The dining room wasn’t as divided as it had been, but tensions were still high since Pete had basically won. People weren’t happy that they had shut their doors, but some claimed it was for the better, while others claimed it wouldn’t be like this forever, because “Tyler wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Mikey!” Blurry bellowed as he stormed into the room. People looked up, their eyes widening in fear. Mikey definitely looked paler than he had prior to his name being called out by Tyler’s dick of a roommate. “I need to talk to you. Now.”

“Dude,” Gerard elbowed him, “go!”

“No!” Mikey whispered back harshly. “What if he wants to kill me or something?”

Blurry rolled his eyes. “Come on dumbass, we’re wasting time.”

Slowly, Mikey stood up. People around him whispered as he walked slowly around the table and shuffled to the front of the room. “What’s up, dawg?”

“Shut up,” he muttered, feeling pathetic for coming up here in the first place. Stupid Tyler, having to be a stupid raging drunk because his stupid boyfriend left him. Unfortunately, that stupid boyfriend was the reason Blurry was up here in the first place.

“Sorry. What can I help you with?”

“I need you to take Tyler to his parent’s house. His dad called; it’s pretty important. Tyler is too out of his own mind to get there on his own.”

“But--” Mikey pointed a finger and stepped slightly to the right. Blurry sighed. 

“I’m not a fucking idiot dude, I know you’ll die if you touch me. Obviously I’ll give Tyler control again. Actually, you know what? Touch me. Let’s get rid of some of the stupid people in this place.”

Mikey huffed. “Jeez.”

“Look, I’m up here on my own and not being forced, which is unnerving on its own. I’m only doing this for Josh. He’s the only one of you stupid people I actually like. So you’re going to take Tyler to his dad’s so we can figure out what’s going on, alright?”

“Yeah, of course. This situation is just a little weird.”

“Just stop talking.” Blurry led the way back down to Tyler’s room, pushed the doors open and made his way around Tyler’s mahogany desk.

“I’ll need an address.”

“Figured. There’s one around here somewhere.” He sloppily opened up draws and sifted through papers strewn messily across the tabletop.

“You don’t know your parent’s address?”

“They aren’t  _ my  _ parents. They’re Tyler’s. They just happened to be the people that gave birth to the body I live in.” He shrugged. “Here we go.” 

Mikey accepted the post-it and quickly scanned the address. “Okay, got it. So you’re just gonna--”

Blurry didn’t give him the chance to finish. He shifted out of control, sending red quickly fading into brown, where Tyler, lost and still buzzed out of his mind, collapsed into Mikey’s arms.

“Jesus, dude. Are you okay?”

“Huh? What? Yeah. M’fine. What’s going on?”

“I’m taking you to your parent’s house,” Mikey replied cheerfully as he grabbed hold of Tyler’s shoulders. “Close your eyes!”

“What?” Tyler replied, still confused. He most certainly did  _ not _ close his eyes, and suddenly his stomach was in his throat and he felt like he was going to throw up.

He collapsed to the concrete in his parent’s driveway and took a couple deep breaths. Mikey crouched down in front of him.

“You good?”

“What the fuck!” Tyler sat up. “Way to warn me!”

“I told you to close your eyes! I can’t help it if you don’t take my advice.” Mikey shrugged. “Now come on. Blurry said this was important.”

“You spoke with Blurry?”

“More like he spoke with me. The guy really loves Josh.”

“Yeah,” Tyler mumbled, feeling more worse by the minute. “Well, guess we better go see what my dad wants.”

\---

Tyler’s father wasted absolutely no time. He forced the three of them down onto the sofa and made himself comfortable. Mikey remained rigid, crossing his arms for good measure, while Tyler slumped down and let half his body slide off the couch. He still couldn’t think straight to save his life.

“I didn’t expect you to get here so early,” he commented. Mikey cleared his throat and waved a hand.

“Hey. Uhm, I’m a talent too. Teleportation.”

“Oh, very interesting. Well, thanks for your help.” His father waited, probably expecting Mikey to leave. Tyler sat up.

“He’s not leaving. Mikey is family and cares just as much about Josh as the rest of us, so go ahead and start.”

“Alright then. So a few of my colleagues have been looking into the trade on the black market. There appears to be a recently popular buyer, who is making severe leaps up the ladder. Along with all the humans he’s been buying, he’s also been getting a ton of chemicals, poisons, that kind of stuff.”

“Okay, so?” Tyler huffed. His father couldn’t have told him this over the phone?

“You don’t understand, Tyler. This person, this buyer, he’s using all of these chemicals and poisons to  _ disguise _ humans into appearing as if they are talents. He’s making us believe they’re talents.”

Tyler turned to stone. Mikey gasped. “Holy shit,” he whispered.

“One of my colleagues recently got in touch with this buyer disguised as someone interested. I’ll tell you, this sick man has no moral compass. And that’s not it. He thinks he’s located Josh. He knows Brent was successful, as most of these sick people on the market believe, and wants Josh. Not only is Josh worth billions of dollars of profit money, as you know, but he’ll be the perfect subject to do tests and figure out how to replicate Brent’s experiment.”

“If one of your colleagues knows what this guy is doing, why haven’t they stopped him?” Mikey leaned forward in worry. Tyler’s father sighed.

“He’s undercover. Exposing his identity would create a plethora of problems. Until we know for sure who this person is and where he’s operating, we can’t risk it. Which is why we need to get Josh back.”

“We’ve had several of these rabid talents getting closer to our base,” Tyler argued, suddenly more alert than he had been in weeks. “Or I guess, humans. Either way, they were crazy. The last two slashed their bodies all over and kept screaming about pleasing their creator.”

“The Buyer.” Mr. Joseph sighed. “Josh is in more danger now than he was before. If he’s back home, living with a bunch of humans, they are more susceptible to this poison and brainwashing stuff The Buyer has created. Once The Buyer locates a person, he won’t stop until he’s found them. I think it has something to do with his talent, but my associate is on the case. He’ll let me know as soon as possible.”

“Okay, so, does The Buyer realize Josh isn’t where he thinks he is?”

“If he doesn’t already. Trust me, it’s much worse for Josh to be around a bunch of humans. The Buyer will be able to use them to find Josh more easily.”

Mikey stood up. “Then what are we waiting for? I can go grab him right now!”

“You know where he lives?” Tyler seemed puzzled by this information. Mikey seemed to realize what he had let slip.

“Uh, yeah. I actually took him to his house,” he admitted. Tyler’s eye twitched.

“You WHAT?” he roared. Mikey stepped back.

“He needed to do what was best for him, and I wasn’t going to deny him help!”

“What the fuck? How could you do that?”

“He would have gotten there just as quickly anyways! The dude can run just as fast as Gerard, you know!”

“Gentlemen, please.” Mr. Joseph spoke over their arguement. “Mikey, I’ll send my associate to go get Josh. If you could just get an address, that would be better. Josh needs to hear an explanation to why we’re suddenly showing up outside his house.”

“Why don’t I just go?” asked Tyler. Mikey scoffed.

“You think he wants to see you?”

The room fell silent. Tyler felt like he had been stabbed twenty-three times in the back. Was this how Caesar felt?

“Tyler, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

He didn’t reply. 

“Go get that address, if you would.” Mr. Joseph spoke quietly and calmly. “Just… put it into your phone.”

“Yeah.” Mikey swallowed loudly, his throat clicking, as he stole another glance at Tyler who had yet to move. “Give me a sec.” One second later, he was gone. Tyler’s father turned towards him.

“Son, whatever happened between you and Josh, I highly doubt he doesn’t want to see you. Look how long you’ve been together.”

“Mikey is right though,” Tyler muttered. “Josh doesn’t want to see me. He blocked me. I’m pathetic. I’ve done nothing but sit in my room and get drunk. I guess I never really expected this to happen, you know? What’s going to happen to me? Can I even die? I’ve been told I can’t, that there’s no possible way, because I can bring myself back to life. Am I going to age? What’s going to happen to me?” By this point, Tyler had broken down in tears as he reviewed the mess that was his life. “Holy shit, I’m having a midlife crisis.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” his father moved closer to pull him into a hug. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can definitely figure it out. I could find out for Josh too, okay? Things between you two will get better, I promise. We just need to make sure he’s safe first.”

“Okay.” Tyler took a deep breath and sniffed. “Yeah.”

Mikey came back then, with Josh’s address in his phone. He refused to look Tyler’s way as he gave the information to Mr. Joseph.

“Thank you for your help, it is much appreciated.”

“Yeah, of course.” Mikey glanced at Tyler out of the corners of his eyes. It was obvious he felt bad for what he said. “Hey Tyler, you ready to go?”

“I think uhm, I’m gonna stay here for a little bit. Is that okay?” He looked towards his dad for confirmation. 

Tyler’s father nodded. “Of course. Thanks again, Mikey.”

“Anytime. See you later Tyler. Uhm, call if you want me to come get you or something.” And with that,  _ poof, _ Mikey was gone again.

Mr. Joseph stood up from the sofa and tugged on his stained t-shirt. “I’m going to go make some phone calls. Your mother should be home soon, I think she went out with some friends. Help yourself if you’re hungry or thirsty, you know where everything is.”

“Sure.” Tyler watched his dad walk out of the room, heard the basement door slam, and slid back down the couch.

Once again, he was alone.

\---

Josh felt great.

Sure, he was suffering from a bad breakup and felt pretty terrible about not having Tyler around anymore, but now he had a job and was about to rent out an apartment, and it was great! His job was perfect for him; with his bright yellow hair and tattoos, he fit in perfectly with the rest of his coworkers, and often had many people asking him about music suggestions. Even though Josh had only worked there for about a week and a half, he pictured himself working there for a long time.

It had been almost three weeks since he had left Home Base, and on a quiet Wednesday afternoon, Josh was home alone. He didn’t have work, and his mother was out running errands, so Josh had went for a jog. Upon returning home, he took a quick shower, changed into some shorts and a tank top, and settled down on the couch. Josh had just began a game of Angry Birds when the doorbell rang.

Who could that be?

Josh figured it was one of his siblings or a friend of his mother’s as he stood up and went to answer the door. Josh most  _ certainly _ did not expect Vecchio of all people to be standing on his doorstep.

“What the hell?” came out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Vecchio scoffed.

“Well, hello to you too. You mind if I come in?”

“No! How the heck do you know where I live?” Josh pulled the door tighter so Vecchio couldn’t see inside. He was still in disbelief that Vecchio had somehow found him.

“It’s a long story. Can I please come in and explain? It’ll all make sense after I’m done, I promise.”

Josh sighed. Part of him thought that if Vecchio could find him, all the others could too. Had Mikey told him where Josh lived? Mikey wouldn’t do that, would he? Did Mikey even have contact with Vecchio, since he and his friends had left?

He looked around to see if anybody was watching him. Satisfied, Josh pulled the door open and gestured for Vecchio to come in. “You’ve got to be quick, my mom could come home any second and she’s going to be really confused.”

“Oh yeah, your parents are human, right?” Vecchio questioned as he stepped over the threshold and sat down on the couch. “Forgot about that.”

“Also, I have no friends out here. I guess I could say you’re a coworker...” Josh shook his head and crossed his arms. “Okay, explain.”

Vecchio prepared himself by taking a deep breath. “Josh, you are in danger.”

Josh blinked. “What? I already knew that.”

“No. You’re in more danger now than before.” He proceeded to tell Josh about The Buyer, about the humans disguised as talents and how this person could use humans to find Josh even easier. 

“Wait, wait.” Josh moved closer, wanting to know if he was really hearing this correctly. “You’re telling me that the people we saw in the woods, the ones that you and Dallon looked at, were  _ not  _ talents?”

“Yep,” Vecchio nodded, “you were right from the beginning. There was something shifty about it.”

“Do you know if this person, The Buyer, has a talent?”

“Yeah, he does.  I actually, well, shortly after all the stuff with Brent, started doing what Tyler’s father does.”

Josh stared at him for a few brief seconds. “You know Tyler’s father?”

“Chris? Yeah. At first, I didn’t realize that he was Tyler’s father, but I found out soon enough, especially after he started talking about you. He never knew I lived with you guys, only that I had been close to Brent and knew what he had done. There’s a bunch of us that have dedicated our time to rescuing humans that have been sold on the black market, as you know. I’m sure Chris has explained it to you.”

“Yeah, yeah, when he was telling me about the cure.”

“Anyways, I’m undercover right now, as a potential buyer looking around. I met The Buyer online, we’ve exchanged some conversations, and then he, we’re assuming it’s a he from the conversations, was telling me about his plan. He’s getting closer to accomplishing what Brent did. If he finds you, it’s game over. The Buyer will steal you away, experiment on you, just as Brent did, and sell you for profit.”

“That’s fucked!” Josh shouted, suddenly on the verge of hysteria. “What the fuck!”

“Trust me, I know. Chris, the others, and I are looking into how to stop him. He’s really taken a liking to me, fortunately. That’s how I know about all the ‘humans-disguised-as-talents’ thing. I don’t know how he does it, but I assume it has something to do with his talent. That’s besides the point. You being around humans is not beneficial, not right now. It’d be much better for you to be at home.”

“So... he can locate?”

“Yeah. He was telling me about it a little bit, let me find the messages.” Vecchio fished his phone out of his pocket and tapped on a few things. “Here we go. So yeah, locating, based on certain features. Like, he can narrow the search pool to blondes or brunettes and add more on top of that until he locates a specific person. He can even search by talent. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know what your talent is, and since you have basically three in one, it’s going to take a little bit of work. But you being out here, surrounded by normal human beings, it’s going to be much easier to find you.”

“I can’t go back. I just left, I’m finally settling down--”

“Dude, how do you think I feel? I basically got kicked out of that place.” He scoffed. “Look, Josh, I just want you to be safe. I know part of the reason you’re like this is my fault. I take full responsibility for what I did, and the fact that you don’t feel safe doesn’t sit well with me. I know those poor, poisoned humans are getting closer to your home, but The Buyer still hasn’t located you, and might not. I have a plan, but it requires the both of us returning back to Home Base.”

Josh sighed and shoved his fingers into his eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening. Am I always going to be on the run? Are there always going to be people after me?”

“Not if we stop The Buyer. I just need to find out who they are and where they’re operating. If I can get in, we can stop their operation and keep you safe.”

“Did you drive here?” Josh peeked through the blinds to see a honda civic parked in the driveway.

“I flew. I got you a plane ticket too, we’re scheduled to leave tomorrow.”

“Where are you staying?”

“A hotel downtown.”

Was Josh seriously about to do this? Leave his new, normal life and return back to a place full of bad memories?

That wasn’t completely true. Josh had plenty of good memories in that place. He thought about Tyler.

“Josh, your family is in danger. The Buyer can use them to get to you, which means using them to get what they want. You’d be willing to go with them if say, they threatened to poison your mother, right?”

“Yeah,” Josh agreed. Okay, so he had to go back. What would he tell his parents? What would he tell his new coworkers? Josh  _ loved _ that job.

“I want everyone to be safe, human and talent alike. This doesn’t mean you’ll never see your family again, or even that you have to stay at Home Base forever. I know that place, and the people in it, are important to you. Some of them were important to me as well. For me to go back is going to be just as difficult for me as it will be for you, especially on the terms I left.”

“Would you bring Boyd and Soren back?”

“Of course. They’re my family. I’m not going anywhere without them.”

Josh was quiet. “It was fucked what Pete did.”

Vecchio shrugged. “People didn’t like that we helped Brent. I get it. He was an evil man, and I’m trying my hardest to make up for it, which includes making sure everyone is safe. So what do you say?”

He knew he had to, for his parent’s safety, for his sibling’s safety, for his family back at Home Base, and especially for Tyler. Josh had thought leaving would make them safer.

What would he say to Tyler?

Josh had thought shutting Tyler out would help him get over the breakup. Tyler obviously wasn’t handling it well, given by the amount of times he had called. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a loud groan. “Okay. I’ll go back to California with you. I just… I gotta say my goodbyes and quit my job and tell my parents I’m going back.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand. Do they know about...” Vecchio waved his hands around in some attempt at a “flame” gesture. Josh had to give him props for effort.

“Just my mother. She’s pretty chill about it.”

“Alright, well, I’ll come get you tomorrow.” Vecchio pushed himself off the couch and made his way towards the door. “Josh, thanks for being so cool with me. You have every right to be pissed and you are still nice to me. I really appreciate it.”

“You helped Tyler find me,” Josh shrugged. “And you helped me feel semi-normal about the life I live now. It’s cool. We all make mistakes.”

“I hope you realize that when it comes to Tyler.” Vecchio patted him on the back as he left through the front door. Josh stood there, watching in the open doorway as he climbed into his rental car and sped down the street.


	7. The Black Market Killed the Talent Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're heading into the deep end my dudes, I hope you aren't too bored yet. Y'all got any idea about who The Buyer could be? ;)

A seven hour plane ride with Vecchio wasn’t the worst thing in the world, surprisingly. Josh didn’t think it was going to be absolutely terrible, more along the lines of awkward, but it really wasn’t all that bad. After Josh had explained to his parents that he was going back, he had to go to work and explain that there was an emergency he had to attend to that would require him to not be able to put in his two weeks. Josh was  _ really _ lucky that both his coworkers and his family were understanding of him having to leave without any real warning. His mother promised things would be fine (after, of course, Josh promised that he would come visit soon.)

Vecchio and Josh had spent the entire plane ride sharing stories of their childhood and random facts about themselves. Vecchio had told him what it had been like growing up as a talent, learning about what might happen to him, his parents prepping him for that “change,” and living away from civilization in a clan away from humans. Josh thought it was pretty insane that an entire different species had been living under his nose the whole time.

After they arrived back in California, Vecchio picked his car up from the airport.

“We’ll go pick Boyd and Soren up from the motel we’ve been staying in.”

“It’s been like three weeks! You’ve seriously been paying that much?”

“We have a mate who owns the place, so not really.” Vecchio shrugged. “We were looking around for another clan.”

“No luck?”

“Nope. Really the only clans around here are Tyler’s and Brent’s. Well, only Tyler’s now.”

“In the entire area?”

“Intermediate area, at least.” Vecchio shrugged.

“Do Boyd and Soren know about going back to Home Base?”

“Yeah. They know what I do, and they know about you. Boyd and Soren, they feel just as bad as I do, you know. I know a lot of people back at Home Base don’t really think they have regret, but they do. When we joined Brent’s clan, it’s because we were looking for help and at our lowest point. We didn’t understand at the time how manipulative Brent was. We didn’t really understand that what he was doing was wrong, you know? Humans, especially to me, weren’t of any importance while I was growing up. It was the adults that interacted with them in the cities; I spent all my time in the countryside. For Boyd and Soren, they aren’t from around here. Things were different over in Denmark.

“The bigger we got, the more talents and humans we kidnapped, the clearer the picture became. At that point, it was too late to back out. Brent would threaten us if we didn’t do what he wanted us to do. Chrissy, Soren, Boyd, even a few others that worked there, like William and Nick, you never got to meet them but they were lovely people, were doing everything out of fear. It wasn’t because we were  _ bad  _ people necessarily. Good people do bad things when they get scared.”

“Lou, when a good person does something bad, they own up to it. That’s exactly what you guys did. You realized what you were doing was wrong, and tried to fix it. I mean, look at Boyd. I remember seeing him screaming at Brendon and laughing at Patrick, but both of them have forgiven David. He’s definitely changed. And Chrissy gave her life for me to be free. All of you have dealt with sacrifices. You belong at Home Base just as much as the rest of us do.”

Vecchio smiled and reached out to pat Josh’s knee. “Thanks dude. That really means a lot.”

“I’ll punch Pete in the face again if I fucking have to. This time, you guys aren’t leaving.”

\---

Josh was coming back today.

Tyler wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Even though Josh hadn’t been gone for more than three weeks, it seemed like much longer. Tyler had spent all his time either drunk off his ass or asleep and Josh had been proactive and had gone out and gotten a job. He had even been looking at apartments, for Pete’s sake.

He had showered and changed into some fresh clothes for the occasion, hoping it make Josh think he actually had his shit together these past couple of weeks. Tyler hadn’t shaved though; he finally had enough scruff on his face to call it a beard and was somewhat proud of it.

The clan was well aware that Josh was coming back with Vecchio, Boyd, and Soren today. Pete was not happy that the people he had kicked out were returning, but he seemed to realize how garbage of a person he had been and kept his mouth shut. After all, it was for everyone’s safety.

They had all gathered in the dining room to wait patiently for the party to arrive. Tyler stood at the door with Pete, waiting for a knock (since none of them knew the updated passcode). Tyler tapped his foot nervously, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, while Pete crossed his arms across his chest and kept his normal, stoic glare.

“Be nice,” Tyler reminded Pete. Pete grumbled under his breath.

_ Hey, at least you look a lot less pathetic,  _ Blurry grinned smugly.

Tyler huffed internally.  _ Oh, fuck you. _

Three solid raps came from the opposite side of the door. Pete and Tyler shared a look before Pete reached out to unlock the door and pull it open.

Vecchio came in first, a backpack on his shoulders, with Boyd and Soren trailing behind him, each with their own stuff. They each shared a solemn nod with Pete, who never changed his stance.

Josh came in last, his duffle bag on his shoulder. He look absolutely perfect; his skin was tanner, a perfect contrast against his yellow hair, which curled and fell across his forehead. His muscles bulged against his tank top, his face was clean cut, and it took Tyler everything he had not to slam him against the wall and start making out with him.

“Hey,” Josh said calmly, nodding in Tyler’s direction. Tyler nodded back and hoped he didn’t look as nervous as he thought he did.

The group filed into the dining room, where Vecchio, Boyd, Soren, and Josh moved off to the side. Tyler moved to the front of the room and fiddled with the brim of his hat. Everyone looked at him, waiting patiently for him to speak.

“So. As you all know, we have some familiar faces rejoining our group.” No interruptions so far, so that was a plus. “This time, we aren’t going to fight about what we stand for. I created this place to be a safe haven, to be a place for us to come to when we were at our lowest. And I think we can all agree that when we came here, we were at our lowest.” The crowd filled with murmurs; Tyler spotted some nodding their heads in agreement. “We are a family. Yes, we fight. Yes, we pick on each other and tease, but under no circumstances will we bring each other down. We open our arms to all talents. We offer them help, we bring them up until they can do it for themselves. All of us, we’ve made mistakes. We’ve pissed people off. But we regret what we did, and that’s the difference between us and all the bad people out there. We work harder to make things better. Vecchio, Boyd, Soren, they are  _ good  _ people. They’ve done so much for us. It is not our pasts that define us, but what we do to make our future better. This time around, there will be no harassment of any kind to our newest members. And Vecchio,” Tyler turned to give him a hopeful smile, “if there are any more people from Brent’s clan that are looking for a new home, send them our way. We have plenty of room.”

Vecchio stepped forward, reaching out for Tyler’s arm, his face twisted in worry. The eyes went to him. “You mind if I say something?”

“Of course,” Tyler stepped back, giving Vecchio the floor. 

He cleared his throat. “I know some of you resent us for what we did. Trust me, we regret it. At first, we didn’t know, didn’t  _ understand,  _ what Brent was doing. Like Tyler had for you, he had given us a home, a place to live, food to eat, a bed to sleep in. He was our savior in disguise. But then he started forcing us to do stuff. He’d manipulate us, threaten us, and out of fear, we listened.”

Boyd joined Vecchio’s side. “I let fear control me. I turned into a monster, because I was afraid of doing something to stop Brent. I’m more than thankful you didn’t kill me. You could have, but you let me come here. And not a day goes by that I don’t think about that. This place gave me a fresh start. I’m working to make up for what I did every day.”

“I was in charge of human blocks,” Soren spoke up from where he was sitting on the sidelines. Tyler had only heard the guy speak a few times. “The sounds are imbedded in my ears. Their screams made my arms tingle. I feel so terrible for what I did. I was scared of dying, of standing up for myself and all the people whose lives were ruined. You guys not only did what I was too afraid to do, but gave me the chance to prove I was better than the me you saw in that terrible place.”

With a deep breath, Tyler watched as Josh stood up and joined Vecchio’s other side. “I’m the result of Brent’s experiments. These people are  _ good guys. _ Not a day passes where they don’t prove that. I said it once and I’ll say it again. When a good person does something bad, they own up to it. That’s exactly what these guys did.”

_ Boom, mic drop,  _ Blurry muttered sarcastically. Tyler shushed him as he returned to speak.

“We’re trying this again. Let’s all get along, okay?”

A few moments of silence passed before the crowd broke out into applause. Tyler stepped back, a proud grin rising to his face. Vecchio and Boyd shared a look as they were swallowed whole by people pulling them into hugs and apologizing. Pete stood back, looking less grim than usual, but he definitely did not look interested in joining the massive group hug happening in front of him.

Josh moved to Tyler’s side. “What you said was really awesome.”

“Thanks,” Tyler didn’t look over at him. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to control himself. Blurry was already getting antsy at the thought of getting to touch Josh again.

“I think we should finally have that talk.”

Tyler stole a glance out of the corner of his eye. Dammit, Josh was still hot. “Yeah. Probably.”

“When uhm, when we should we do that?”

“We could do it now, if you want.”

Josh’s throat clicked. “Yeah, sure.” He tightened his grip on his duffel bag and followed Tyler down the hallway, and another hallway, and another hallway, until they reached the infamous staircase. Josh stood at the top for a few seconds, taking it all in. Tyler looked up at him from a few stairs down.

“You coming?”

“Yeah, sorry. Just, remembering is all. The first time I came down here. Patrick was not happy with me, I’ll tell you that.” Josh chuckled to himself. “I was freaking out. Those doors looked like something straight out of  _ The Walking Dead,  _ and you were so intimidating, I was absolutely terrified. And also really,  _ really  _ turned on.” Tyler found himself blushing as Josh skipped a couple of steps and followed him the rest of the way downstairs.

The chains had since been removed and the door was hardly locked anymore. Tyler pushed right in and made his way to his desk. He was happy he had thought to clean up before Josh’s return date, because this place had been an absolute mess.

Josh sat down across from him as Tyler settled down in his cushioned office chair. “I’m having major deja vu right now.”

“Okay,” Tyler pulled off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair a couple times, “what are we talking about?”

“Our relationship, I hope.” Josh sighed. “Tyler, I was an idiot for breaking up with you. I dunno, I think at first I thought I was doing us a service. You could be safe, I could be safe, we could move on. But now that I’m back here...” he shrugged. “I love you, Ty. Being without you was so hard, harder than I thought it was going to be. I found myself doing all kinds of shit to distract myself. The nights were the worst. I’d lay in bed, missing your body next to me. I was miserable.”

_ He handled it a lot better than you,  _ Blurry said. Tyler wanted to roll his eyes, but he knew BF was right.

“I’m really sorry for what I said about humans. I’m sorry for not taking your feelings into account about the whole talent-human thing. I was a dick.”

“I think we could agree that we were both dicks.” The corners of Josh’s lips tilted into a half smile. “I’m sorry for shutting you out. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“This whole thing was a big mess,” Tyler sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I didn’t handle it as well as I should have.”

“Neither one of us handled it well, really. So I guess the question is, where do we go from here?”

“You think you’ll be here for awhile?” Tyler really hoped Josh would say yes.

“Until we find The Buyer, I don’t want my family to be in danger. So yeah, I’ll be here for awhile. Vecchio promised I wasn’t putting any of you in danger.”

“You aren’t,” Tyler promised as well. “You know all of us would fight for you, right? We love you. All of us. We’ll find this dude, and we’ll kill him, just like we did with Brent. He’s not going to touch you.”

“What about the humans wandering deeper and deeper into the woods? They’re getting closer.”

“My dad said Vecchio had a plan. I still can’t believe how long they’ve been working together.” Tyler shook his head. “It’s kinda mind blowing, actually.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Tyler looked at him with lust in his eyes. “So... can we try this relationship thing out again?”

“I think so,” Josh replied, a smirk replacing his innocent half-smile. He stood up right as Tyler did, and they met in the middle, Tyler’s back hitting the edge of the desk as their mouths connected. Josh’s hands went to Tyler’s waist, to find familiarity, to find his backbone. Tyler slipped his own hands under Josh’s tank top, wanting it off, gone, running his fingers over warm muscle, tanned skin. He had missed this so much, this feeling of  _ ecstasy  _ he got whenever he and Josh kissed.

With Josh’s shirt finally tugged off, Tyler flung it across the room and maneuvered Josh around so they had swapped places. He pushed Josh down on top of his desk, sending papers scattering and folders falling to the ground.

“Hope that wasn’t important,” Josh mumbled against Tyler’s mouth. Tyler dug his nails into Josh’s bare hips as he toed off his shoes. He could feel Josh kicking his off as well, his socked foot touching Tyler’s calf.

“Not as important as this.” Tyler helped Josh pull off his own shirt, which landed behind them as well. Josh groaned obnoxiously as Tyler climbed on top of the desk and straddled him. “Fuck.”

“Please don’t ever fucking shave.” Josh’s hands slipped under Tyler’s loose joggers, under his boxers, where he cupped his ass. It burned slightly, and Tyler was more than sure he’d have four, tiny crescent shaped bruises in the morning, but he was so turned on he didn’t even care.

Blurry started clawing up his throat.  _ Let me play,  _ he cooed, and Tyler shoved him back down with the promise he’d get his turn.

“Hey, hey,” Josh’s voice was gruff with arousal as Tyler fumbled to undo his belt, “are you gonna fuck me on this desk?”

“I was thinking about it,” he replied, tugging on Josh’s belt so hard it slipped out of the loops. Josh began to kick his pants off.

“Oh yeah. Do it. So fucking hot.”

“Yeah?” Tyler breathed as he began to work Josh’s boxers down to his thighs. (Which was a bit difficult considering Tyler was sitting on top of him). Josh was already hard, his cock in perfect view, and he had to take a moment to thank God that this happening. Josh was back and  _ all his. _

“Touch me,” Josh asked, begging slightly. His back bent slightly as Tyler wrapped his hand around Josh’s dick and began working a steady rhythm. Josh groaned. “Oh, fuck.”

“Good?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Josh pushed up into Tyler’s palm. “Get your pants off.”

Tyler tried, at first, to continue jacking Josh off while he used his other hand to push his pants down. He lifted his hips up and tried to kick them the rest of the way off. Next came his boxers, which got tangled on his feet and sent him flailing for balance. He steadied himself with Josh’s hips and pressed him further up the desk.

Josh leaned his head back and moaned again. “Come on, come on.”

“Uhm, lube, lube, in my desk drawer.”

“Of fucking course it is.” Josh snuck his hand around the side of the desk and tugged on the desk drawer. Tyler was thoroughly impressed, considering Josh was basically doing this upside down.

His fingers wrapped around the lube bottle and (bonus!) a string of condoms, both which he tossed Tyler’s way. Tyler wasted no time squirting lube on his fingers. He adjusted Josh’s hips with one, unsteady hand, ignoring more falling papers and a couple pens. Tyler started with two fingers, which caused Josh to let out another loud groan and arch his back once more. Tyler pushed deeper, Josh’s sounds a sweet melody to his ears. Sweat was starting to perspire at his hairline, where more and more yellow hair began sticking to his forehead. Tyler added another finger.

_ Hey Tyler, guess what?  _ Blurry asked. After Tyler ignored him, it turned into a chant.

“Fuck me,” Josh blurted out, ending his sentence in a very loud “gah!” Tyler pulled his fingers out and blindly reached for a condom.

_ Hey Tyler, guess what? I’M STEALING YOUR LIMELIGHT!  _ Blurry broke out into loud, maniacal laughter as he pushed Tyler out of power, his chocolate brown eyes blinking into ruby red as Tyler was shoved to the bottom of his ribcage. Blurry’s grip tightened around Josh’s hip as he skillfully rolled a condom on one-handed.

“Tyler?” Josh asked, his voice strained. BF laughed again.

“I’ve missed you so much, baby,” he cooed, lining himself up. A string of profanities left Josh’s mouth as Blurry thrusted into him without any warning. Josh’s hands latched onto Tyler’s hips, his legs curling around Tyler’s back. 

Tyler’s macbook crashed to the floor.

_ Hey, that was important! _ Blurry gave Tyler a taste of his own medicine and resorted to giving him the silent treatment.

For several minutes, the room echoed with grunts, groans, moans, and unexplainable sounds as Blurry worked Josh through his orgasam. He gave Tyler control right as they hit their climax and came as well.

Josh went limp, his head leaning off the edge of the desk. Tyler pulled out and tumbled to the floor, his balance still a little off.

“I’ve missed that,” he whispered, breaking out into soft laughter. Tyler joined him.

“I missed it too.”

\---

The next morning, Vecchio met with them to explain his plan. He looked around the mess of a room in a little bit of suspicion.

“What happened here?”

“Nothing,” Tyler replied cheerfully, stepping over loose papers to plop down in his office chair. He reached for his Macbook and set it carefully back down on the desktop. Fortunately it didn’t look too damaged.

Don’t get him wrong, they did do  _ some  _ cleaning, and had planned on doing more, but Josh was the absolute  _ worst  _ distraction, and pretty soon they were making out again. Then Josh wanted to take a shower and change, which led to more making out, and  _ then _ everyone upstairs had wanted to see Josh. By the time they had wanted to go to sleep, they crashed in Josh’s room, which was still in pristine condition. 

So yeah. Not much cleaning happened.

Josh sat down next to Vecchio and scooted up closer to the desk. Vecchio raised an eyebrow as he looked over at him.

“Did you guys... nevermind. That’s none of my business.”

“Okay, plan, go.” Tyler steered him back to the topic at hand and nodded for Vecchio to continue.

“Alright. So. The Buyer. We know they specialize in finding people, right?” Tyler and Josh both nodded. Josh assumed Tyler’s father had told Tyler everything Vecchio had told him. “And we know that they can find people based on talents. Well, if they find out Josh’s talent, main talent, I should say, then the game is over. We’re screwed.”

“Okay, and?” That didn’t sound hopeful at all.

“So... I switch up everyone’s talents.”

Tyler frowned. “You can do that?”

“With some help, yeah. It’ll take a lot of work, but it’ll make you safer. The Buyer is only interested in finding you. There’s a lot of people they’ve got to sift through.”

“Huh.” Josh leaned forward on his elbows. “So this will make things harder.”

“Yes, and create a distraction here. People won’t be too worried about the safety issues when they’re dealing with having to get use to a completely different talent.”

“So you aren’t going to tell them it was on purpose?”

Vecchio shook his head. “No. I’ll take more blame. I just want to make sure you’re safe before I dive into looking more for The Buyer. They trust me. I think I’m getting much closer.”

“And my dad knows?”

“Yes. He, along with our other partners, are following along closely and doing just as much research. This will not only confuse The Buyer, but possibly get them off our trail. For now, at least.”

Tyler and Josh shared a nervous look. Josh sighed.

“Are you... would you be changing Tyler and I as well?”

“I sorta have to, you know, to appeal to the whole thing. It would be suspicious if everyone was changed and the two of you won’t. You’ll get used to it quickly, I promise.”

“Well, wait,” Tyler said, “Could you pick who we switch with? I just… I don’t want to have it affect my relationship with Josh, I just got him back!”

Josh blushed when Tyler looked at him. Vecchio rolled his eyes.

“Keep it in your pants, dudes. Look, we have some time to prepare while I deal with all of this. We can talk about it, okay? Things won’t be like this for long.”

“Okay. I think we can do this. If it’s going to keep everyone and Josh safe, then we should do it, right?”

Josh nodded. “Yeah. We could deal with this, easily.”

“Awesome.” Vecchio stood up and pushed his chair in. “I’m gonna go talk with Boyd, ask for his help on things. I’ll let you know before I do anything, okay?”

“Yep.”

“See you later. Thanks again, you know, for letting us come back. And for what you said yesterday. Everyone’s been a lot more nice than the last time.”

“Of course! You guys are family.” Tyler smiled. “I’ll talk to you later, Lou.”

“See you, Ty. Bye, Josh.” The doors slammed shut as Vecchio began his climb up the spiral staircase. Josh turned around to look at his boyfriend once more.

“You think things are going to be okay?”

Tyler nodded. “Vecchio knows what he’s doing. Nothing is going to go wrong.”


	8. Invasion of the Talent Snatchers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We interrupt this angst-fest for a brief humorous interlude. Also know that things aren't going to be good forever. ;)
> 
> Also shoutout to my wonderful friend Pilotstille once more, who has been helping me edit AND wrote a small section of this chapter!
> 
> And thank you all for the nice comments <3

Josh woke up around nine with his bones aching. He rolled over with an melodramatic yawn, reaching for Tyler next to him. It was kind of a comfort thing for him now, just to make sure that the person he loved was safe. 

Especially after not having him around for all that time.

“Tyler,” he mumbled, smacking his lips a few times. He tried to ignore the pain rattling throughout his body and cracked an eyelid open. A smile rose to his face upon noticing sleeping Tyler with his parted mouth and rosy cheeks and dark pink lips that Josh wanted pressed up against his. He sighed happily and reached out to brush Tyler’s cheek with his fingertips. He expected Tyler to maybe groan softly and roll over, or maybe reach right back out for Josh’s hand. 

He didn't expect Tyler to scream.

The brunette rolled off the bed in surprise and poked his head up with worry. “You shocked me!”

Josh sat up, his facial expression melted in just as much worry. “Sorry, I didn't mean to do that--”

“No, like, you legit shocked me! With electricity and everything!” Tyler’s eyebrows knitted together as he pushed himself off the carpet and stared at his hands. His eyes flickered to the bathroom, to Josh, and back to his hands. “Oh shit.”

Josh scrambled out of bed to follow Tyler into the bathroom where he had already turned on the sink. It was nothing more than a low stream, but his eyes were wide as the water bounced in his palm and flipped into the air. Josh gaped.

“Are you... Are you fucking controlling water right now?”

Tyler swallowed nervously, his Adam’s Apple bobbing rapidly. “I think so.”

“How are you doing that?” Josh blinked. Holy shit. He knew why. “Vecchio. Fucking Vecchio.”

“Blurry is gone.” He shut off the faucet and wiped his wet hands on a towel. Josh reached out for Tyler’s shoulder and stopped when he noticed something peculiar.

“No fucking way,” he murmured in disbelief, holding his hands palm up in front of him. Little sparks danced across the pads of his fingertips and ran up his arms. He looked over at the lightbulb, narrowing his eyes at the way it seemed to be fuzzing out. 

And suddenly it exploded.

Tyler squeaked, jumping out of the way of falling glass. They stood in darkness for a few seconds before Josh cleared his throat. 

“I'm electric,” he whispered. 

“Don't touch me,” Tyler responded. “Okay. So obviously Vecchio is behind this and I think we should go find him.”

“Agreed.” And so the two changed quickly without touching and ventured out into the hallway where some already very confused people were wandering. Tyler flagged down Brendon, who was leaning against the wall outside his room, staring at his hands in curiosity.

“Dude, what's up?” Tyler asked, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. Brendon gave an exasperated shake of his head. 

“I set the bed on fire this morning,” he whispered. “I took my temperature too. I broke the fucking thermometer. My hands turned into flames and I had no clue what to do. I ended up sticking them under water, and holy shit, I haven't felt that sick in so long.” Brendon glanced down at his callused fingers before his eyes flicked up to meet Josh. “Why am I the human torch? That’s... that’s your thing.”

Josh pressed his fingers into his eyes and sighed loudly. “Tyler. We need to find Vecchio. Now.” 

“Oh yeah. Good call.”

\---

Finding Vecchio wasn’t as difficult as the two thought it would be. He was sitting in his room when Tyler barged in unexpected.

Luckily, Vecchio was alone and not in the middle of anything inappropriate, but that still didn’t stop him from scrambling when the door banged open.

“Guys! Hey!”

“What the  _ hell,  _ Lou?”

He played innocent. “What?”

“Don’t  _ what  _ me! You fucking said you were going to tell us before you did this shit!”

“Look, it’s about the element of surprise, okay?”

Tyler looked like he was about ready to lose his shit.  _ “Fucking ELEMENT OF SURPRISE?” _

“Well, that, and the faster everyone is safe, the better, right? It won’t be for very long, I just found out The Buyer is operating outside of Los Angeles, which means I’m getting closer! I’m heading in the right direction!”

“Even so, why did you have to pick the two talents that are literally the farthest away from each other on the spectrum?”

“Wait, what did you end up with?” Vecchio perked up, no longer cowering from Tyler’s fury. Tyler shot him a look, his eye starting to twitch. Josh wanted to reach out to calm him, but the idea of full blown shocking him again did not sound pleasant.

“Oh, you wanna know? Does that  _ excite  _ you?”

“Ty, bring it down a bit. It’s okay.” Josh said softly. Tyler pivoted on his heel to glare at him. “We’ll get through this. Deep breath.”

He listened to Josh’s directions and took a deep breath. “Alex. I’ve got Alex’s talent.”

Josh let a small crackle of electricity bounce across the pads of his fingertips. Vecchio watched in amazement. “I’ve got Andy’s.”

“Woah, it actually worked! That’s incredible!”

“What’d you do?” Tyler looked ready to throw a punch, despite the fact that he was trying to calm down. Vecchio swallowed loudly.

“I uhm, Boyd helped me. Our talents combined can do a helluva lot of damage.”

“Uh, DUH.” He scoffed in annoyance. “You couldn’t have given us powers that, I don’t know, allowed us to  _ touch?” _

“It was all completely random, I swear. It’s just... unfortunate, at this point.”

“It’s not like we can do anything now, Ty,” Josh spoke up, still in a calm voice, “everyone is starting to realize that something weird is going on. It’s better if we just come up with a cover story until Lou and your father and whoever else can track down The Buyer.”

“Not even everyone was here last night! We sent a few people out on a supply run!”

Vecchio’s eyes widened. “Shit. Well, that’s unfortunate. Oh well, I think we have enough differences and chaos to hide ourselves for now.”

“What about Boyd? Did his power switch too?”

“Yeah. He’s fine with it though. Promise.”

“Come on, everything is going to be fine.”

Tyler sighed in defeat. “Fine. Don’t think I’m not over this though, because I’m not. I’m still really pissed.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty evident. Let’s just, take things one step at a time, alright?”

“Fine,” Tyler muttered, pushing out the door. Josh and Vecchio shared a nervous look before following.

\---

Everyone spoke at once, freaking out about how they seemed to wake up with a different talent. Tyler tried to calm everyone down, despite the fact that he was still pissed off at Vecchio for not warning him beforehand.

“Look everyone, I know we are all freaked out, but we need to remain calm--” oh how it pained him to say that, knowing the truth, “--so we can figure out what’s going on.” They had talked about what Vecchio was going to say on the way down to the dining room. He was going to claim it was an accident. “Actually, you know what? It might be easier to figure out who has who's--” Tyler stopped abruptly as the thought of Blurryface crossed his mind. Blurry was gone. Which meant he was with someone else. “Oh shit.”

“What?” Josh nudged him. Tyler ran a hand through his hair and breathed out slowly. This was not good. This was  _ really  _ not good.

“Blurry. He’s not with me, remember?”

Josh’s eyes widened. “Oh no.”

“Okay, okay, okay. Everyone? Please listen up.” The murmurs in the crowd stopped as the attention once again fell back on Tyler. “Somehow all switched talents, which means someone has mine right now and I need you to step forward before things get worse.” Fear swept back over the crowd as everyone looked at each other. Blurry could have been with anyone and that  _ terrified  _ Tyler. It took him almost ten years to get the reigns on that demon and the fact that he could be ruining someone’s life right now was a scary thought.

“Tyler,” a voice rang out in a singsongy tone as Dallon waved from one of the back tables. The crowd broke out into more murmurs as the healer (well, technically not at the moment) slid out from the bench and made his way to the front, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, almost like he was trying to avoid skin contact.

And when Dallon was face to face with Tyler, it all made sense. Because his eyes were bright red.

“Please don’t hurt him,” begged Tyler as he took a step back. Josh reached out to steady him, only to remember water and electricity didn’t exactly mix. “He doesn’t deserve that.”

Blurry scoffed. “I’m not going to hurt him. I’m still a part of you, aren’t I? Just in a different body. Which is so  _ weird _ if I do say so myself.” He winked. Tyler knew Blurry was aware that Vecchio was behind this. “Are you going to tell everyone how this happened?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Josh mumbled, trying to cover up for Tyler who seemed to be panicking. He met Dallon’s ruby eyes f or two seconds before dropping his gaze to his shoes. It was far too creepy for him.

“And that’s where I come in.” Vecchio pushed his way through the group with (fake) guilt on his face. “I fucked up.”

Tyler cocked an eyebrow and hoped it was convincing enough. It was already weird enough that they were putting on a show for these people to distract them from the real problem at hand. “How?”

“Uhh... Boyd and I. Last night we had been messing around, and well, I’ve been sort of working to advance my talent, so we tried something stupid. Next thing I knew I was passed out, and here we are. So I’m assuming this is my fault. Not many other people can mess with people’s brains, can they?”

“Holy shit.” Brendon stumbled back to use the wall as support, his face twisted in disbelief. Josh frowned, feeling a bit bad about the panic everyone was in.

“Can you fix it? Fix us?” asked Spencer, wandering over to help calm Brendon down.

“That’s the problem. I’m not quite sure what happened. Plus I had Boyd’s help, who doesn’t have his original talent anymore, so there’s that.” Vecchio glanced at Boyd briefly, who glared at him back with his arms crossed over his chest. Tyler noticed the wink they shared and hoped nobody else noticed.  _ Idiots,  _ he thought.

“So we figure out who has whose talent. Okay.” Tyler took a deep breath and looked back into the crowd. “Pete!” at the mention of his name, Pete pushed up from the table. Surprisingly enough, he had been rather calm about the recent changes in the building. “Do you have any clue what you can do at this, er, moment?”

“Oh yeah,” he said sarcastically. “I just love feeling all this fear and worry and tension. Really gives me a nice headache.”

“You’re the healer,” Vecchio determined, and Tyler gestured towards Dallon.

“When Dallon returns, you talk to him.”

“Is he going to return?”

“Definitely,” Blurry said cheerfully. Pete nodded warily and made his way up to the front of the mess hall.

“Okay,” Tyler continued. “Who has Pete’s talent?”

Boyd slowly raised his hand, still glaring playfully at Vecchio. Jesus, they were  _ enjoying  _ this. “Wish I would have gone on that supply run with the others. Wouldn’t be stuck almost bringing down buildings if that was the case.”

“Fighting will only make things worse,” Tyler said thickly, annoyance still in his tone. He wanted to punch Vecchio  _ and  _ Boyd.

He jabbed a thumb back at Pete and continued. “Who has Boyd’s power?”

Hayley made her way to the front. It was weird to see her not flickering through different personalities or skins or colours. Her hair was red, eyes brown and smile nervous. “I’m normal!” she said jokingly, nudging her foot into the ground as she moved to stand next to Boyd. Josh continued to stare.

“I’m the shapeshifter,” came from the crowd as an exact replica (minus the red eyes) of Dallon pushed through. “So weird being able to talk again. Look! I have a tongue! And a hand!”

Pete gaped. “ _ Patrick _ ?”

He grinned. “Yeah. Also, weird being tall. Never would have guessed how awesome it was.”

“It’s pretty sick, isn’t it?” Hayley added, giving Patrick-as-Dallon a high five. Tyler dragged a hand down his face. Everything about this was weird and he didn’t think he’d ever be able to forget about it.

“I’ve got Patrick’s talent,” Mikey stepped forward with a grin. “Hey Gerard, tell me I’m way better than you.”

“You’re way better than me Mikey.” Gerard said monotone and Mikey cheered.

“I’m going to have to have some fun with this.”

“I’m the teleporter,” Jack exclaimed. “I woke up in Mikey’s room this morning. Thought maybe I sleep walked, but then I realized I don’t sleep walk.”

“Just don’t end up in Rome like I did,” Mikey patted Jack on the shoulder softly.

“Wouldn’t mind ending up in Alex.” The entire room groaned as Alex’s face turned bright red. Leave it to Jack Barakat to make a situation awkward.

“Next,” Tyler begged, trying to move the meeting along. The faster they finished, the faster Tyler could go back to bitching at Vecchio.

“I’m King Dick Jokes now,” Lynn teased in a poorly done accent as she scooted towards Jack. “It was so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of me.”

“You get used to it.”

“I’m Kevin Eleven,” Frank mumbled, staring at his Converse as he shuffled next to Lynn. She feigned offense but there was still a smile on her face.

“I never thought about it that way, but I guess you’re right. Did it freak you out?”

“When I woke up with a metal arm? Yeah, just a little.” Lynn laughed.

It took a few moments for the next person to admit they had Frank’s talent, but when Zack made his way up with vines curling out from under his sleeves nobody blamed him, not even Frank. He nudged Zack apologetically.

It was Joe who gained Zack’s super strength, and he flexed his arms as an attempt to “show off.”

“I broke my bed this morning.” Everyone laughed, but he shook his head. “No, I’m serious. My bed is broken.”

Rian became telekinetic, Gerard could manipulate time, and they too earned their sympathetic smiles.

“Don’t think too hard about it,” Rian whispered into Gerard’s ear. “Don’t think about it and nothing will happen.”

“It took me forever to brush my teeth,” Gerard voiced back. “All those slowing seconds you know.” 

Rian rolled his eyes.

Keegan gained Gerard’s super speed. He walked to stand next to Gerard with his head down and Gerard patted him on the back. “Anything weird happen yet?”

“Went for a walk this morning. Wasn’t much of a walk.” He smiled softly. “How cool would it be if I could be solar powered and super fast?”

“Sorry,” Vecchio mumbled. Tyler waved his hand and things went back on track.

When Gabe Saporta walked to stand next to Keegan, everyone was in shock. After all, the two were the complete opposites, and he was no longer wearing his sunglasses. Nobody could remember the last time they had saw Gabe without his glasses. “This is weird you know, relying on the sun when I usually like my rain. I was a man of darkness and now I need all the light I can get.” 

Keegan blushed. “Now you know how I feel.”

“You can thank me for the sun. It’s the only way I can feel calm without making myself that way.” Spencer huffed as he scooted next to Gabe. Gabe pulled him into a half hug.

“Oh hush. You should be lucky you got such an awesome power.”

“You’re right Spencer. It’s extremely nice to feel calm about a situation as crazy like this.” Andy grinned, sliding an arm over Spencer’s shoulders. “You have to show me how to make a whole room like this.”

“Happily,” muttered Spencer.

“Josh,” Tyler nudged him, and with a sigh, Josh made his way next to Andy. He tried to ignore all the eyes on him and focused on his fingernails instead.

“You okay?” Andy whispered. Josh nodded.

“Not much has happened yet. I blew out a light. Shocked Tyler. But that’s about it. I already had to deal with the introduction to one, so this won’t be too bad.”

“I think I can make you feel a bit better about the situation. Fire and electricity kind of work together, don’t they?”

“Yeah,” Josh agreed, except Tyler wasn’t Aquaman the first time. Brendon joined his side a few minutes later and Josh leaned forward to shoot him a look.

“Did you burn down the room?”

“Just the bed,” Brendon mumbled. “I got a little too hot last night.”

“That’s my fault,” Spencer grinned and everyone around them groaned.

Alex and Tyler were the last to fall in line. Alex told Brendon he hadn’t messed anything up yet, there was just an annoying ringing noise pounding in his head. Tyler told Alex he hated feeling sticky.

“Go visit a pool and sit at the bottom for a while.” Alex was grinning, his hand moving all around in excitement. “Take a deep breath, and  _ feel _ how great it is to take all that water in. You’ll feel like a brand new person. Now of course, people might get a little bit freaked out if they see you go down and not come up, but that’s only happened to me once or twice. Maybe a little bit more than that. But you’re drawn to water. Drink a ton, touch a ton, just whatever you can do to satisfy that craving.” He paused. “Is it nice to not have you know who with you anymore?”

“I haven’t felt this way since I was fifteen years old,” Tyler admitted. “I feel like my own person.”

Vecchio requested Boyd come with him right away so they could start “working on figuring out how to put everyone and everything back together.” Really though, they were going to call Tyler’s father and get an estimated time for how long everyone would be like this.

“First things first,” he told Tyler, “everyone needs to be patient. Just stick to the story and we should all be fine.”

“I’m still pissed,” Tyler muttered. “You guys are having too much fun with this. And also, Ryan and Soren, they are the only ones who didn’t swap powers.”

“You said they were on a supply run. I can’t help that.” They both turned to look at the two who seemed rather relieved they weren’t having to deal with all the crap everyone else was dealing with.

“Okay, fine. What should we do while you’re working?”

Vecchio took a deep breath and nervously rubbed his neck. He knew he was walking a thin line with Tyler. “Tell everyone to work together. I honestly have no clue how long things will be like this for the time being, so everyone needs to try and get at least a little bit comfortable with who they are at the moment.”

Tyler nodded his head, but he was still upset with the circumstances. Water and electricity didn’t mix at all, and he didn’t want Josh or himself getting hurt. How long would it be before they could return to normal? He had just gotten Josh back; how long could he go without touching Josh  _ again? _

This reminded him all too much of previous events.

“Yeah, of course. I’ll let everyone know.”

“Thank you.” One nod later and Vecchio was herding his people down the hall. Tyler sighed, rubbed his head, and went to go deliver the news.

\---

He found Josh talking between Andy and Brendon. Brendon had his arms wrapped around his chest, the white knuckles just barely noticeable. He had his head cocked, listening intently. “It’s cliche and it doesn’t seem like it would work, but you just have to think cold,” Josh was saying. “Keep your emotions level. Don’t fight them. If you do, the energy will just build up and eventually you’ll just…” He moved his hands out in an exploding motion. “Release.”

Brendon swallowed, but quickly laughed boisterously. “Yeah! Of course. It’s just science, I’m not an idiot. Keep calm and think cool. Got it.”

Tyler sat down across from the three. “Hey, guys. Going well?”

Andy folded his arms on the table. “Think so. What did Vecchio have to say?”

“Just keep doing what you’re doing,” he shrugged, gesturing to around them. “He’ll work on this as best he can, but you might as well get used to this for now.”

“What?” Brendon stood up from the table. “Get  _ used  _ to it? This isn’t right! He fucked us all and he’s telling us to  _ deal with it _ ?” 

“Hey, I’m just as pissed as you, but you’re going to be okay. We’re all gonna be fine.” Tyler glanced around, noticing Andy’s deep, even breaths and Josh’s shaking hands. 

“Brendon,” Josh said softly. He carefully reached out, his hand not quite touching Brendon’s arm. “Please. We’re all stressed but we’ll figure this out. Remember what you did for me?”

Brendon ground his teeth and sharply dragged his hand through his hair. A thin trail of smoke rose and the faint smell of burnt keratin filled the area around the table. As soon as Brendon lowered his hand and noticed the pulsing glow, his face fell. Josh stood up next to him. “Hey, look at me. Breathe.” Slowly and shakily, he breathed in and out and sat down.

The entire room seemed quieter. Tyler furrowed his brow. He quickly made a decision, standing up at the head of the room and addressing them all. “One more thing, guys: we have to stop taking our stress out on each other. We have to work together and keep each other calm to get through this. Vecchio will do his best to get everything fixed as soon as he can. In the meantime, don’t be afraid to ask questions to handle your power. And don’t be embarrassed.”

Murmurs broke out, but Tyler noted mostly nods and relaxation. He sat back down, reaching for Josh’s arm out of habit. A stab of pain lighting up each fiber in his arm reminded him that he couldn’t be so absent-minded.

Josh gave him an apologetic look. “We did it once, we can do it again,” was all he said. 

\---

“Oh my god, this is too much!” Josh cried as bolts of electricity painted black scorch marks on the walls and floor. He was grateful the family had kept it cement. Josh dropped to the floor, wrapping his arms around his knees. 

Andy stepped toward him, keeping an arm’s length distance away. “You’re doing great! You have to know how to handle the out of control first.”

“So I don’t accidentally kill my family, yeah, I know,” Josh mumbled. He shook his head, though, and looked up at Andy, wiping his nose. “Can you… Have you figured out the emotions thing yet?” 

Andy shifted to one foot. “A little. I can try…” He filled his lungs slowly and closed his eyes. He was visibly calm, and soon Josh felt a faint wave of tranquility surround him. It was just enough for him to release his tense muscles and lie back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. 

“Thanks.”

“Um… no problem?”

The two shared a laugh and Andy sat down next to Josh. “You think you could try again?” 

Josh pursed his lips. “I…” he sighed. “I need to.” He sat up, focusing on the light bulb in the center of the nearly empty room. Somehow, the position comforted him.

He sighed again. “No. I can’t. Not today.”

Andy nodded. “That’s okay. We’ll try again some other time.”

"Sorry Andy, but I really need to go find Tyler.”

“Yeah, of course.” he smiled. “Come find me if you’re still feeling a bit out of whack.”

“Thanks.” Josh excused himself and slid through the cracked door. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and walked swiftly.

This was driving him nuts and made him feel far too anxious. Josh already had to deal with getting used to having friggin’  _ superpowers, _ (technically, everyone had to get use to it) so you would have thought it would be easier this time. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Josh walked into the dining room, which was surprisingly empty. Pete sat with Patrick and Joe at a table near the kitchen.

“Hey guys,” he waved. “Anybody seen Tyler?”

“I think he’s out with Alex by the stream doing some ‘self control’ stuff,” said Patrick cheerfully. He looked like himself at the moment, despite the fact that his hair and eye color were rotating through blonde, red, and brown, as Hayley’s often did. It was still a little strange that Patrick could speak out loud now. Don’t get him wrong, it was incredible, but Josh felt a little bad about the situation. Patrick would have to go back to how he was before rather soon.

“Oh, thanks.” Josh sat down next to Joe and managed a small half-smile. “How’s everyone doing?”

“I knew people were pissed at me, but this fucking sucks,” Pete muttered, leaning forward on his elbows. Josh held back a snarky comment. “I don’t know how Dallon deals with this every day.”

“I never really understood it either,” Josh replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Patrick? Joe? How about you guys?”

“Strength is a lot harder to manage than it looks,” Joe sighed. “I’m trying to get used to it, but I’ve broken a lot of things today.”

“I broke a lot of stuff at first too. It’s okay, you’ll get the hang out it in a few days.”

“How long do you think Vecchio will take to fix all of this?” asked Patrick. “I don’t actually mind being like this.”

“I wish there was a way to go back in time and kill Brent all over again,” said Pete, who was looking at Patrick longingly. Patrick glanced over at him and reached out for his hand.

“It’s okay babe, I promise. Although I will agree, it’s very nice to talk out loud again.”

Pete only huffed in response. Josh patted his shoulder supportively and stood up from the table. “I’m gonna go find Tyler now. Good luck you guys, you’re doing great.”

“How about you, J?” Patrick’s face creased with worry. “Electricity and water don’t mix all too well.”

Josh chuckled sadly. “No, unfortunately they don’t. We’re fine. We’ve done it many times before and we can do it again. All is well.”

“We’re here for you if you need it.” 

“Thank you, Patrick. I’ll see you guys later.” Josh continued on his way. Once outside, he closed his eyes and tilted his head towards the sky, where the sun was sneaking in through the cracks of the foliage. The match field wasn’t too far away, and Josh could hear yelling. Something told him Tyler’s session with Alex wasn’t going too well.

And sure enough, when he crossed the field, Josh found Tyler lying down on his stomach, his hands outstretched into the water in front of him. Alex stood with his arms crossed, looking a bit irritated.

“Hey,” Josh said calmly, hoping he wasn’t interrupting anything super important. “How are things going?”

“This sucks,” Tyler mumbled into the grass. Alex chuckled.

“He’s frustrated.”

“Are you frustrated too?” Josh grinned as he bent down to touch Tyler’s back. The fabric must have absorbed most of the electricity, because Tyler hardly flinched.

“Nah,” Alex replied, “Tyler’s doing fine. I just think he’s not used to being so heavily dependent on water.”

“I never knew it was that important.”

“Uhm... water’s pretty important. It helps us live, dork.” Tyler groaned in response. “What have you learned, love?”

Alex answered for him. “Self control comes easily when you think of it as being a part of you.”

“Yeah, you made it move this morning, remember?”

“Not the same thing as self control,” Alex said. “Anyways, I’ve got to go ask Brendon how to get this fucking ringing out of my head. It’s driving me nuts. See you later?”

“Yeah.” Tyler pulled his hands out of the water and rolled over onto his back. “I feel better now.”

“I’m telling you, go to the beach. That’ll really give you some energy.” One smile and a wave later, Alex disappeared among the trees. Josh sat down in the grass and tilted his head as Tyler sat up.

“You still shocking people and blowing out lightbulbs?” asked Tyler.

“A little bit.” Josh sighed. “Day two of how many?”

“Too many. Everyone is losing their minds.”

“Maybe we should tell them the truth. Everyone thinks this is Vecchio’s fault when I’m the main reason he’s doing this. What about the rabid ‘talents?’” Josh mimicked air quotes and let his hands fall into his lap. “They’re humans. Ordinary humans being sold into slavery. That’s so fucked up. I wish there was a way to shut it down.”

“Unfortunately there will always be bad people, but my dad, Vecchio, the others associated with them, they’re doing their best to make sure those that come out of this come out strong. They’ll hunt down whoever is after you and stop them.”

“We need to tell everyone this.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Jish, I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“Why not?”

“You saw the way they reacted when there was a possibility that girl was from Brent’s clan. Now that we know she’s not, all of that fighting about letting in others or shutting our doors seems a bit silly, don’t you think? But the threat’s still there. There  _ are _ people after us, after  _ you. _ People are finally starting to get along because Vecchio’s given us in a brand new problem. They’ve all forgotten about the rabid talents and Brent’s clan.”

“I’m sure they would understand! They’re family. We can’t lie to family.”

“Sometimes we lie to protect those we love.” Tyler pushed himself off the ground and wiped his hands on his shirt. “I gotta go find Dallon and check up on Blurry. I’ll see you later.”

“Tyler, I just got you back. Please tell me this isn’t going to make things difficult.”

Tyler half-smiled. “Of course not. I just can’t deal with getting electrocuted every day. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to Vecchio about it later and see if he’s gotten an estimated time.”

Josh sighed. “So I guess no sleeping in the same bed tonight then.”

“Sorry, Jish. I’m just as upset about it too, you know.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, “I know.” He didn’t want to go behind Tyler’s back and say anything, but Josh was pretty damn sure he might have too.


	9. Frankly, Tyler, I Don't Give a Damn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this will be the last update for the next two weeks as I am going out of town. I plan on getting lots more writing done so when I get back the updates will be more frequent again!

Josh thought about who he could tell that would be level headed about it and help him spread the truth. He figured Pete would be the best candidate for that. (Having Dallon’s talent had really made him level headed.)

Pete would want to tell everyone the truth. Josh knew Tyler would be upset with him, but honestly, this was something that needed to be done. Josh couldn’t go on with being like  _ this _ and have everyone freaking out without knowing the truth.

His fingertips tingled as he walked to Pete and Patrick’s bedroom, like he had shoved a fork in an electrical socket. Honestly, Josh didn’t think he was ever going to get used to that feeling. He wondered if Andy ever had.

With a deep breath, Josh rapped three solid times and waited patiently with his hands tucked deep into his pockets. He waited, straining his ears for any movement, when Pete pulled the door wide open. Patrick was nowhere to be seen.

“Everything okay?”

“You’re hiding something,” Pete replied, narrowing his eyes. He grabbed Josh by the shoulder and pulled him into the bedroom, slamming the door loudly behind him. Josh sat down on the couch while Pete stood in front of him and began pacing. 

“I’ve been in here trying to get away from...” he mashed his fingers together, “everything, out there. My head feels like it’s about to explode. I can’t separate feelings from each other. I don’t know what is what and whose is whose and gah. This fucking sucks.” Pete slumped down on the edge of his bed and groaned. “I have no idea how Dallon deals with this all the time.”

“He heals too,” Josh replied, hoping to steer the conversation away from Pete’s struggles (because once he knew the truth, he was going to be pissed), “and he’s had time to adapt and learn and stuff. This is new for you. New for all of us.”

“Right.” Pete narrowed his eyes once again and repeated, “You’re hiding something. You and some other people.”

“Yeah. That’s actually what I was coming down to tell you about.”

Pete leaned back on his hands and raised an eyebrow. “Okay, go ahead.”

“This whole ‘powers swap’ thing? It wasn’t an accident.”

A couple seconds passed. Pete blinked, and then all his fury swept over him like a tidal wave.  _ “WHAT?” _

“I guess I’ll start from the beginning.” Josh cleared his throat and wiped his clammy palms on his jeans. “Those rabid talents we found in the woods aren’t talents at all. They’re humans, being disguised as talents and brainwashed to find us.”

“Why do they want to find us?”

“Well, me, most specifically.” Pete’s face softened. “You know, because of the way I am. There’s always going to be people after me, wanting to see how Brent did it, wanting to sell me for money, you know, asshole stuff. Vecchio found someone we’ve nicknamed The Buyer who’s getting closer to finding me. They’re behind all the human disguised as talents stuff.”

“That explains why they came back,” Pete muttered. “So why did Vecchio switch everyone’s powers around then?”

“The Buyer, we have no idea who they are. He, she, they, whatever… Tyler’s dad thinks it’s a guy like Brent, but at this point, who could pass up an offer like the money they’ve got on me? It could be anyone. Anywho, their talent is locating. They can find anyone by their features, talents, etcetera. So Vecchio did this to throw The Buyer off course.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense.” Pete shifted uncomfortably. “I guess these guys really are trying to do good.”

“We’ve been trying to tell you that from the start,” Josh said in response. “Anyways, Tyler didn’t want me telling anyone this, but I couldn’t go on lying to everyone. They’re all freaking out as they try to get adjusted to this lifestyle and they think Vecchio is trying to fix his mistake when in reality he’s looking and waiting to knock The Buyer out.”

“Well… Patrick’s in better condition now. I guess I can’t be angry if he’s doing it to protect us all, you know? That’s what I’ve always been trying to do.” Pete sighed. “Okay, so how do we do this? How do we get the word out without Tyler knowing?”

“That’s the problem here. I don’t know. I don’t want him to be upset with me, but I can’t keep lying to everyone.”

“I agree. Telling everyone is a good idea. I feel like everyone would be okay with keeping it a secret from Tyler.”

Josh frowned. “Why’s that?”

“You weren’t here when Tyler was at his worst. We’ve had to keep a ton of secrets from him in the past, for his safety.” Pete rolled his eyes. “You know, when the tables are turned, I don’t really appreciate it all that much. I guess that makes me a hypocrite.”

“A little bit,” Josh agreed. “Maybe I could get Tyler out of the building and you could gather everyone for a group meeting. Only problem is Vecchio, Boyd, and Soren can’t be around because they know about it.”

“Makes sense why Soren didn’t have his powers swapped then.”

“That was an accident, surprisingly. I mean, look at Boyd. He has your talent, right?”

“Right,” Pete murmured unhappily. “Okay, so I’ll send the three of them on a supply run and call a meeting for everyone else. You can get Tyler out of the house and we’re good to go.”

Josh nodded in agreement. “Cool. This sounds like a plan. I guess, just make sure nobody goes around telling Tyler or Vecchio and company that they know, okay? They have to keep pretending that they don’t know. This is just so my conscience is less guilty and that they understand why Vecchio did this.”

“I get it, Josh. I’m more than willing to help you out.”

“Alright, cool. So I guess we’ll aim for tomorrow then?”

Pete nodded. “Tomorrow.”

\---

The next morning, after a brief recap with Pete, Josh ventured down into the basement to find Tyler, who was clacking away at his laptop.

“Whatcha up to?” Josh asked, sneaking around the desk to gently rub Tyler’s shoulders. Tyler bit his lip.

“My dad sent me an email. Well, me and a few other people.”

“His associates?”

“I think so. I can’t tell who’s who by their emails. The whole thing is kinda cryptic, probably because my father is so paranoid about people hacking into his stuff. So all I got out of it was ‘two weeks.’”

“You think that has something to do with the power swap?”

“I hope so. The closer I get to touch you again, the better. I’m going crazy.” With a sigh, Tyler closed his laptop lid. “So, you up to anything today?”

Josh’s stomach twisted into knots. He felt terrible going behind Tyler’s back to tell everyone about this. “I thought maybe you and I could go out somewhere.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow and said in a poorly done French accent, “You fancy a day trip to France, monsieur?”

“Paris sounds nice, but only if you never do that again.” Josh grinned. “I’ll go ask Jack if he’d be willing to take us. We’d have to change currency though.”

“Don’t worry, that won’t be a problem. Besides, we haven’t had a proper date in months. This will be fun! We can go see the  _ Mona Lisa!” _

“Call Jack,” Josh reached out for Tyler’s panel of buttons and scanned them for Jack’s name. “Maybe he’s figured out how to do the teleportation thing. I overheard Mikey saying it wasn’t that hard to get ahold of.” The intercom beeped on, and a tired voice soon followed.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jack, it’s Josh. Tyler and I were wondering if you would be willing to drop us off in Paris. That is, if you think you can do it.”

Jack sighed. “Yeah. Give me a second.” the intercom turned off, and the two looked at each other.

“I love teleportation,” Tyler said happily as he rushed into his bedroom. “I’m going to change. What’s the weather like there?”

“I don’t know, why are you asking me? I haven’t been to Paris before.”

“Seriously?” Tyler popped his head out of the doorway. “You’ll love it.”

“Uh, I have no doubt I will. It’s frickin  _ Paris. _ You’d have to be crazy to not like Paris.”

“Agreed.” With one last grin, Tyler disappeared back into his bedroom.

\---

Josh was fine with wearing the clothes he was already dressed in: a plain white t-shirt, skinny jeans, and his maroon Doc Martins, plus his signature snapback. Tyler looked much more formal than him, wearing a blue button up (Josh’s favorite on him) and black jeans with floral vans. He bounced on the balls of his feet as Jack dragged himself into the bedroom. His hair stuck all over the place and his eyelids were heavy with sleep.

“You do realize it’s eight in the morning, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s midday over in France. So chop, chop, we don’t have time to waste. Pete is in charge for the time being.”

“Fantastic,” Jack muttered sarcastically. He latched his hands onto both of their shoulders. “I’m dropping you off at the Eiffel Tower because that’s the only thing I really know about Paris. Can you find your way around?”

“Yes,” Tyler promised. “I say I’d call you when we’re done, but that’s not really going to work, is it?”

With a sigh, Jack let go to pull his phone out of his pocket. “Alright, so Paris is nine hours ahead. I can come get you at midnight there? It’ll be about three in the afternoon here.”

“Sounds good to me!” replied Tyler cheerfully. Jack still glared at him.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this for you. Hope I don’t fuck this up. If we end up in the middle of the ocean, please don’t kill me.” Jack took a deep breath. “Alright, close your eyes.” Both of them obeyed, after seconds later, opened their eyes to bright sunlight and a bustling city. Jack tucked his hands in his pockets and cheered. “Hell yeah! I did it! Okay, so, meet me back here, okay? I think I can come back.”

“Got it,” Josh said, feeling guiltier by the second. Tyler was so  _ excited  _ to be here, if only he knew the real reason...

No. This was the right decision. Everyone deserved to know the truth! Tyler would understand once everyone was alright with it, Josh knew it.

“See you then.” He disappeared, and the couple clambered out of the bushes. Tyler dusted leaves off his pants and grinned ear to ear as he took a deep breath. 

“Smell that Paris air.”

“Yeah,” Josh nodded. “Smells like bread.”

Tyler reached out to press a kiss to his cheek. Josh saw him flinch and knew how much that kiss must have hurt. “Come on. We have some exploring to do.”

\---

Don’t get him wrong, Josh had a great time. They went to The Louvre to see some art, ate dinner in a fancy Paris cafe, and went to the top of a shimmering Eiffel Tower late at night where they kissed until Tyler could no longer handle the pain. Jack came exactly at midnight (and spent a good solid minute celebrating his impressive feat), and they were whisked back to the real world where pumpkins were pumpkins and mice were mice and Josh’s stomach still clenched because of what he had done.

He wanted to find Pete and ask how things went, but that required leaving Tyler, who hadn’t left him alone for more than two minutes the whole day. (And even then, Tyler had wanted to come into the bathroom with him. Josh promised he’d be fine.) He understood why Tyler was being so clingy though. Josh knew Tyler was worried he’d get taken or something. Josh also knew that Tyler was becoming more and more deprived of touch because of the unfortunate circumstances they were in.

“I’m dead,” Tyler announced, flopping onto his bed after Jack had left. “I hate this. Kissing you fucking  _ hurts.” _

“I told you it would,” Josh sighed, sitting down at his desk chair. He pulled his hat off and ran a hand through his hair. “Only two more weeks of this though, right?”

“If my dad wasn’t lying, then yeah. God, that seems like an eternity.”

“Tell me about it.” His stomach clenched tighter. Josh  _ needed _ to know how things went with Pete. “Hey, I think I’m gonna head upstairs, see how everyone is today. You know, because everyone is still freaking out.”

Tyler sat up and raised an eyebrow. “So you’re going to guilt trip me now?”

“Of course not.”

“Sure seems that way.” With a huff, he jumped off his bed and made his way towards the exit. “Let’s go then.”

Upstairs, things seemed normal. People conversed, talking more with the people they had swapped powers with, trying to figure out ways to harness and get a hold on their new talent. Tyler went to the kitchen to get a glass of water (which turned into a solid eight cups) while Josh looked around for Pete. He spotted him across the room and made eye contact, his foot tapping nervously as he watched Pete stand up. Vecchio, of course, because he always made excellent time with his entrances, interrupted before Josh could get out one single word to the only person he desperately needed to talk to in the building.

“Black,” Vecchio rested his hands on his knees as he attempted to catch his breath. “I found out who The Buyer is. Jenna Black.”

An uneasy silence filled the room at the same time Vecchio said that name. Tyler whipped around.

“What did you say?”

“Jenna Black,” Vecchio repeated a bit quieter because everyone was listening now and he didn’t know that everyone else knew. “The Buyer isn’t a man. It’s a girl. A brilliant, beautiful  _ girl.” _

Tyler’s eyes widened. His mouth parted, his bottom lips trembled, and without saying a single word, he darted out of the dining room and down the hall. Josh called after him, taking a few steps towards the hallway, but decided Tyler probably needed some time to himself. He turned back around.

“Who the hell is Jenna Black?”

“Shh!!!” Vecchio about shouted. Pete joined him at the counter and scoffed.

“Oh, drop the act  _ bro, _ we all know about the secrets you’ve been keeping.”

“You, you do?”

“Yeah, and we forgive you for switching all of our powers. It’s to protect Josh. We understand.” Pete turned around. “You guys can go back to your conversations.”

The room once again filled with noise. Josh leaned forward. “Who the hell is Jenna Black?” he repeated.

Pete sighed. “She was a resident here, several years ago.”

Josh blinked. “Seriously?”

_ “Seriously?” _ Vecchio repeated a bit more frantically. 

“Yes, seriously. Her and Tyler had a... thing.”

“What the fuck!” Josh pushed his fingers into his eyes. “Why has Tyler never told me about this?”

“He doesn’t like bringing up the Jenna thing, Joshua. Calm down and I’ll keep telling the story, okay?” With a pout, Josh nodded his head. “He found her a few years after we started this place. She was one of the first ones. Not many people know about her besides the people that were there. She was sweet, cute, timid, all expected of a talent who could do a little extra than the rest of the species.

“Jenna didn’t know how to use her powers. Tyler said he’d give her some pointers. At this point, he wasn’t struggling with Blurry as much as he would later. They grew close. Tyler learned that she spent her whole life in foster care and didn’t even realize she wasn’t human until she suddenly had superpowers. She freaked out, ran away from home, and found herself here. Tyler and her, they were both really young. And that’s what their relationship was, really. Young love.”

“Did he love her?” Josh asked. Finding out Tyler had been in a very serious relationship was making him feel... something. Anger? Anxiety?  _ Jealously? _

“I don’t know, really. Jenna loved him, that was a fact. She thought they’d get married and waited anxiously everyday for him to ask the question. They dated for about two years, and then things for Tyler started getting bad. And I mean  _ really bad.  _ Jenna really didn’t understand the Blurryface aspect of Tyler. She didn’t understand that Blurry was evil and demented and a sex crazed super villain. Blurry absolutely  _ hated _ Jenna. He hated the idea of Tyler being happy, as we all know perfectly well with how things went with you at first, Josh.” Josh nodded. BF had hated his guts too. “Jenna soon became afraid of Blurry. If Tyler showed any signs, she’d leave. She wanted to be there for Tyler and not for Blurry and didn’t understand that they were a packaged deal.”

“That’s kinda fucked up,” Josh said.

“She just didn’t get it, man. She thought maybe someday BF would just... leave, or something. I don’t know exactly what she thought. But they got in this huge fight, Tyler said Blurry would never leave because ‘Blurryface controlled his life’ and broke up with her right then and there. She left the next day, never to be seen again. Tyler never brought her up ever again to anybody.”

“Until now,” Vecchio murmured, “because she’s looking for Josh.”

“Does she know? Does she know about Tyler?” Josh started panicking again. If Jenna was looking for him, she’d find Tyler too. And if she found out they were dating, what the hell would happen then?

“If she knew about Tyler, she would have found you guys by now,” Vecchio said. “She’s in the dark about Josh being apart of her old clan. We need to find her now.” He turned towards Pete. “Do you have any idea of where she might have gone? I know she’s in Los Angeles, but that’s a big place.”

Pete shook his head. “I have no clue where she could be. She left almost ten years ago.”

“Shit.” Vecchio slammed his hand down on the kitchen island. “Dead end. I can’t blatantly come out and ask her for her address.”

“Yeah, that really wouldn’t be suspicious,” mumbled Josh. He still couldn’t believe Tyler hadn’t told him about Jenna. They had been dating twice as long as Tyler had dated Jenna!

“Josh, don’t be upset at Tyler. I’m sure you’ve been in plenty of other relationships you haven’t told him about.” Oh right, Pete was basically Dallon now, and just as obnoxious as well. “This is something that Tyler doesn’t like to talk about. Respect that.”

“Yeah, thanks Dad.” Josh glared at Pete. “Great. So if Jenna finds me, she finds Tyler, which means both of us are screwed. Lou, I think being here is not the best idea.”

“Josh, I can find her. My team can find her. We just need more time to do some digging, okay?”

“You need to be quicker. We won’t last much longer and I don’t want to put everyone’s life on the line.”

“Look, she’s already been messaging me about losing your trail. She thinks I’m helping her find you. Really, I’m just sending her on a wild goose hunt.” Vecchio grinned. “If you just give me a few days--”

“You can have a few days, but you need to give everyone their rightful talents back. The building is in chaos because of me.” Josh sighed. “I’m tired of everyone having to put their lives on hold because of me.”

“We promise we’re fine like this,” Pete spoke up. Josh shook his head.

“No. Vecchio, make everyone normal again. We’re done. We can solve this problem without having to bring everyone into it. We’ve been like this for a week. You said she lost my trail. Fantastic. It worked. You get a few days and life goes back to normal.”

“Josh--” Pete started.

“No. Enough. We’re done. Got it?” He looked Vecchio in the eyes.

Lou nodded, his jaw clenched. He obviously was not happy with Josh’s order. “Yep. Got it. I’ll tell Boyd and we’ll fix things tonight.”

“Thank you. I’m going to find Tyler.” Josh stepped away from the counter and left the hall, leaving Vecchio and Pete to whisper nervously behind him.

\---

Tyler was curled in the back corner of his bed when Josh walked it. He was staring at his bare hands. They shook slightly.

“Hey,” Josh said softly. He sat down at the edge of the bed. “How you doing?” 

“I should paint my hands again,” Tyler whispered. “They look so plain.”

“I like them better this way,” Josh replied, reaching out to touch them, before he realized how not good of an idea that was. His hands fell into his lap. “You don’t need that anymore.”

“I know I don’t,” Tyler murmured, “but I  _ feel _ like I do.”

“We don’t have to talk about her,” Josh said, “not unless you want to.”

Tyler sighed. He pulled his knees up to his chest and set his hands neatly on top. “I’m sorry I never said anything about her.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I mean, we both knew this wasn’t our first relationship.”

“I just... I can’t believe  _ she’s _ the one after you. She’s the one that wants to sell you on the fucking black market. That’s not, that’s not something my Jenna would have done.” he covered his face with his hands. “I feel like I’m in the fucking twilight zone.”

“Tell me about her,” Josh suggested, hoping that would make Tyler feel better. He pulled his hands away from his face.

“She was beautiful,” his voice was quiet and he didn’t look Josh in the face. “Jenna was smart, and kind, and extraordinary. Everyone loved her. She trusted me. She made me feel like I wasn’t a monster.” Tyler laughed bitterly under his breath. “We were young. I was barely twenty-one, and she was nineteen, and our relationship was straight from the movies. After two years passed, we grew apart. Well, I grew apart. I didn’t like her in the same ways she liked me. She still loved me, I know she did. But I realized she didn’t understand me anymore. She didn’t want to help me deal with Blurry because to her, he wasn’t there. She didn’t understand that in order to be with me, she’d have to deal with me and my sadistic counterpart. So I broke up with her. I figured all of my relationships would end up like that, so I started going out into town and fucking whoever would take me. I craved affection, Blurry craved affection, and he reminded me that no one would ever love the real me.” his hands slid to the sides of his head and grasped his hair tightly. “But you love the real me. You, Josh, you changed my fucking life, you know that?”

“I’m sorry I was such a dick. I never should have left you. I never should have shut you out of my life like that. I didn’t realize I was hurting you. I thought I was doing what was best and I was an idiot.”

“We make mistakes and we learn for them. That’s what happens when you’re in a relationship. You make things work.” Tyler forced a small smile. “I couldn’t make things work with Jenna because she wasn’t willing to do that. I know you are.”

“Of course I am. I love you.”

“I haven’t talked to Jenna in ten years. That’s a lot of time to become evil, and unfortunately, I think she took that route. So we stop her. I’m so stupid for not seeing it now. Jenna’s talent, the locating, I’m the one that taught her to use it, how to control it. Now she’s better than ever. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re safe.”

“Man, I really wish I could kiss you,” was all Josh said. Tyler laughed, for real this time. He reached out for Josh’s arm and pressed his lips to Josh’s cheek.

“The pain is worth it,” he whispered.

\---

It was a late night for the talented, wicked girl everyone back at home remembered her as. A life of crime wasn’t something Jenna had ever thought she was going to get involved in, but here she was: a bitter, revenge-seeking girl. Selling Brent’s success would give her enough money for her to start a new life with the person she loved. 

“I got the location.”

The blonde looked up. “You’re joking.”

“I’m serious. Your little friend forgot to turn his location services off. And you’re right, he is two timing us. Wanna know where he is?”

“Where?”

A phone was shoved in her face. She about fainted. “Tyler’s clan.”

“Bingo. Which means--”

“Brent’s success is there.” A large smile crossed her face. The subject and her inside help were in Tyler’s clan. Her work was done. She had found them. Finally, after years of searching, she had found them. Jenna felt like crying.

“Babe? Is everything okay?”

Jenna nodded. No. She had to keep in together. She could do this. “I’m fine. I just haven’t thought about him in such a long time.”

“You won’t need to think about him any longer. In fact, I have a way we can get back at  _ him _ too. Guess what?”

“What?”

“They’re dating. The subject and Tyler are  _ dating. _ Stealing the subject away from him will  _ destroy  _ his life, just like he destroyed yours. You deserve this. We deserve this.”

“The subject,” Jenna cocked her head, “is it a girl?”

“Nope. A man. A man named Joshua Dun.”

“Joshua Dun,” Jenna repeated, his name stinging her tongue. Tyler was dating Joshua Dun. Tyler had broke up with her to date  _ him???   _ “How long?”

“That, I’m not sure. I can find out though. Tell your inside source thank you. I’m going to retrieve the subject. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“It’s a six hour drive up there,” Jenna started.

“I got a flight. I love you. Be back tomorrow okay? This new life, we can do it. We can destroy Tyler and Josh and get the money.”

“Okay,” she nodded, “be safe.”

“I always am.”

\---

At three am, the alarm went off.

Josh awoke with a jolt, his body slick with sweat. He was really starting to overheat, which would usually be a good thing, if not for--

He kicked off his covers and clenched his fist. It erupted into flames. Josh burst into laughter.

“Yes!” he cheered, extinguishing the flames before pumping his fists. That, however, was not important at the moment. What was important was finding out who set the alarm off. Josh figured someone had entered the wrong passcode; it wasn’t the first time it had happened.

He had been sleeping in his bedroom on account of the power’s swap thing, so Josh wandered down the dark hall towards the front door to reset the security system. His fellow clan members poked their heads out to see what was going on.

“I don’t think it’s anything,” Josh said to calm them down. He passed Pete and Patrick’s room, whose door had yet to be opened. Both of them were pretty heavy sleepers.

And sure enough, when he arrived in the front room, nobody was there. With a sigh, Josh reset the security system, stopped the blaring alarm, and turned around to head back to bed. He was going to go downstairs and crawl into bed with Tyler, Josh decided. Maybe even fool around. God knows how long they hadn’t been able to do that.

A loud  _ click _ sent chills down Josh’s spine as the cold barrel of a gun was pressed to his neck. “Don’t move,” a gruff voice came from behind him. Josh swallowed nervously and raised his hands up.

The gun didn’t move as the intruder snapped a collar around his neck and pulled a bag over his head. Josh’s heart was in his stomach. He wanted to scream. It was happening. It was happening again and everyone thought it was a fucking  _ false alarm-- _

“We’re going to move this way love,” said the voice. “I’m sure you remember Brent Wilson?”

Josh said nothing. The intruder hit him with the gun. “Answer me.”

“Y-Yes,” he said softly, pain filling his veins.

“This collar follows his design to a tee. You can no longer use your powers, and if you try, you will be in enough pain to piss yourself. Understand me?”

“Y-Yes,” Josh said again. His body shook.

“Now, we’re going to climb into a car down in that garage of yours and drive back home, okay?”

“Okay,” Josh complied. The intruder grabbed him harshly by the shoulder and pushed him towards the front door. A scream lodged in his throat as the security system chimed with the correct keycode. How did they  _ know? _

“This way,” they demanded gruffly. His scream finally escaped.

“TYLER!” Josh screamed as loud as he could. “TYLER! TYLER, FUCKING PLE-”

The gun went off, the bullet grazing over his shoulder. Josh screamed in agony this time as his assailant shoved him up out the door and began dragging him through the woods. They were fast, faster than a human, so a talent had to be the right pick. Was this Jenna? It sounded more like a man, but she could have been using a voice changer. Oh, Josh was fucked. 

His muscles throbbed with pain, but fortunately the bullet wound wasn’t too bad because of all the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Josh knew that would wear off very soon.

As soon as the intruder located the hatch that led to their secret garage, they laughed loudly, and two seconds later, Josh was knocked out cold.

\---

When Josh woke up, he looked right into the eyes of his kidnapper. They still had a ski mask pulled over their head, and they were dressed in dark clothes. He tugged at his hands tied behind the chair he was strapped to. Josh’s entire body ached.

His kidnapper pulled the mask off and tossed it to the floor before running their fingers through long, strawberry blonde hair.

Josh’s heart stopped. His eyes widened. His body went limp.

And in a meek voice, he managed to say her name. 

“Debby?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun Dun DUNNNNNNNNN


	10. The Not So Suite Life of Josh and Tyler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this update is ages later, I've been having trouble concentrating enough to actually get online, look over the chapters, and post it. I've actually had a really hard time writing in general, but hopefully I can get out of this slump. 
> 
> Anywho, you get to meet some new characters this chapter!

A smile rose to Debby’s ruby red lips. She ran a hand through her long hair once more and sighed loudly as she leaned against the door of the room. “Hello, Joshua. It’s been a while.”

“You--” Josh didn’t know what to say. He and Debby, they had dated many years ago, right after Josh had moved to California to get away from the drug business. They had broken up and never really talked again. Debby wanted nothing to do with him.

He thought about Tyler and Jenna. Was Josh just as guilty for not telling his boyfriend about Debby?

“Yes, me. You’re surprised, aren’t you? I haven’t talked to you in quite a while. I guess... maybe you thought I was out of your life for good?”

“I always hoped we could be friends,” Josh argued, furrowing his eyebrows, “I had wanted to be friends, but--”

“But nothing. You broke my heart, Josh. Did you ever love me? All those times you said those three words, those three, _piercing_ words, did they have any meaning behind them?”

“Of course they did, but I had stuff going on in my life--”

“Yeah, because look at you now.” She pushed up from the door and began pacing back and forth. “Oh, Joshua, what did you get yourself into? Messing with talents, becoming the first half human, half talent hybrid-- when we dated, you were nothing but a measly human.”

Josh understood now. Debby was a talent. All those years ago, when they had dated...

 _Holy shit,_ he thought. Tyler wasn’t the first talent he dated.

“You’re a talent,” he whispered, frozen with shock. Debby grinned viciously.

“I always knew you were smart. You’re correct, Josh! I am a talent. I’m a talent who didn’t get as lucky as all your friends back at that place of yours.”

“You don’t have your own powers?”

“No, I don’t. I’m useless. I’ve never been able to help, to use my full potential, because I was cheated out of my own talent.” Debby scoffed. “My whole life, my parents raised me to believe I was next in line to get powers. It had skipped a generation, I was the oldest, and I was so ecstatic. But you know what happened? My brother got it instead, and I was forgotten.

“So I turned towards humans. We were similar in a number of ways, but I still felt at an advantage, that maybe I could trick myself into feeling like I did have powers of my own. And you, Josh, you made me feel special.”

 _Oh no,_ he thought, feeling worse by the second.

“You were the best human I had ever met. You were kind, smart, caring-- I didn’t care that we weren’t the same species. I wanted to be with you forever.”

_Oh no._

“You meant _everything_ to me. Those three years, I was so happy. Every day, when I woke up in your arms, I felt safe. I felt unstoppable. Not having a talent, that didn’t matter anymore because I had _you.”_

_Oh no. Oh no, oh no--_

“And then, without any explanation, you broke up with me and disappeared. You wanted to be friends, you said?” she laughed harshly. “What a lie.”

“I was wrapped up in some bad business--”

“I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care anymore about what happened in the past, because it’s over. You’re the one that wanted to end things. And look at you. You, a weak, feeble human, now have a talent of your own, three in fact, and now you’re stronger _and_ faster than me. Not only that, but I _still_ don’t have a talent of my own.” She took a long deep breath to collect herself and continued to anxiously run her fingers through her hair. Josh remembered that being a nervous tick of hers. He wished he could do something to comfort her. He wished she wasn’t so upset with him, that he hadn’t been such a _dick--_

“Debby, I am so sorry. I should have told you the truth, but I was so scared, and I disappeared--”

“I don’t care anymore, Josh. Your words, in the end, aren’t going to matter. Besides, I have someone else now.” She shrugged nonchalantly, like it wasn’t a big deal, but Josh could see the pain in her eyes. It was the same pain he had saw in Tyler’s when Vecchio brought up Jenna.

“You’re in a new relationship?”

Debby nodded. “I am. She’s brilliant, kind, sweet. Together, we can do enough, can get through enough, to make our lives perfect for the first time ever.”

Josh didn’t speak. He knew what she was talking about.

He knew how screwed he was.

“Debby, please,” he begged, tugging at the rope around his wrists, “I know you are upset with me, and you have every right to be. I was a dick. I’m so sorry. But you can’t do this. You don’t understand who Brent was. He was a monster. He didn’t listen to what I had to say. I was tortured, put through so much pain and trauma. I never asked for this. You, you’ll be in just as much pain as me! Listen, there is absolutely nothing wrong with who you are right now.”

Debby tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowed. She was studying him, trying to figure out if he was all talk or not. Josh hoped she would believe him. He knew he had wronged her, and Josh didn’t want her following the same fate he ended up with.

“I’m so sorry, Joshua,” she said his name like it was a curse on her tongue. Debby leaned forward until her mouth was only inches away from his. “I will _never_ trust you again.”

And with that, she turned on her heel and left the room, leaving Josh to scream her name.

\---

“He’s gone. I can’t believe he’s gone.” Tyler pushed his head into his hands and tried to even his breathing. It had been two hours since he had ran upstairs and discovered the broken lock. Two hours since Tyler had woken up to Josh screaming for help, two hours since he heard the gunshot, since he found blood smeared on the walls.

Two hours since Josh had been kidnapped.

He couldn’t believe he had let this happen again. Tyler had promised to keep Josh safe and he had failed. Josh was gone. How would they find him this time? It wasn’t like they had Mikey to lead them to the building. Did they even know the son of a bitch that had taken Josh?

It clicked. It finally clicked.

Tyler pushed up from the table in a fit of rage. “Jenna,” he roared, “Jenna took him.”

“Hey,” Vecchio reached out to try and calm him down. The entire dining room was full of his friends trying to comfort him after what had just happened. Tyler wanted none of it. Blurry was just as furious; Tyler couldn’t remember the last time he had been this upset. He was trying so hard to take over just so he could let profanities spill from his lips.

“Where is she?” Tyler pointed at Vecchio angrily. “Where the FUCK IS SHE?”

“Calm down,” Vecchio said softly. Tyler let his fist hit the wall before he took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. “We’ll find her. I promise we’ll find her, and find Josh.”

“All of this was for nothing!” Tyler shouted, digging his fingers into the sides of his head. “All of this. Josh will never be fucking safe!”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Pete stepped closer and put his hand on the small of Tyler’s back. “Ty, we know. We know about what Vecchio did. We know about Jenna being The Buyer. We all know.”

Tyler continued to gulp down deep breaths of air.

“We want to protect Josh just as much as you do. We love him. We love him just as much as you do. He’s apart of this family and we will fight for him.” Pete moved his hand to Tyler’s shoulder and squeezed gently. Tyler looked around the room, where everyone nodded in agreement.

“Josh changed our lives,” Mikey spoke up. “We’ll fight. We’ll go down swingin’ if we have to.”

“We’ll get him back.” Vecchio looked Tyler in the eye. “We know Jenna is in Los Angeles. Josh can’t be that far away. Even so, we’ll drive down there and look for him if we have to. Remember? I have a team. We will find him.”

“What if it’s too late?” Tyler’s voice cracked. “What if he gets sold? What if we never find him again?”

“We. Will. Find. Him.”

“What if we don’t?”

“I’ll take you to our HQ. Will that calm you down a bit? You can meet the others.”

Tyler nodded. “Yeah. Yeah.”

Pete pulled Tyler into a hug. “I’ll take care of things around here. Seriously, this time. No more fighting. We’ll do everything we can to make things easier for you, okay? You go with Lou.”

Tyler’s grip around Pete’s waist tightened. “You’ve always taken care of me.”

Pete pressed a kiss to his head. “I love you, kid. Be safe.”

“Come on then,” Vecchio said as Tyler pulled away from Pete and straightened his shirt. With one last look around the dining room, Tyler followed Vecchio towards the front door.

\---

Debby hadn’t come back into the room for what felt like hours. Josh’s shoulder burned with agonizing pain, and he was more than certain that his wound was infected. His shirt was torn and stained with red and every time he shifted, another wave of pain marched throughout his body.

He twisted his wrists behind him, trying to get the knot untied. If he could get out of his bonds, all he’d have to do next is find a phone and tell Tyler where he was. Then he’d find an escape route. Not having powers wouldn’t be a problem for him as it had been for the others. He knew what it was like to be... average.

All the adrenaline, however, had seemed to leave his system, so struggling for escape was causing him a lot of pain, and Josh wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

He could hear whispering, between Jenna and Debby. Josh couldn’t find the strength to strain his ears enough to make out what they were saying. He continued to rub at the rope around his wrists against the fraying wood of the chair he was sitting in.

The door opened, and in came Debby and who must have been Jenna. Josh’s eyes widened. _Holy shit,_ he thought. Tyler had broken up with _her?_

“Josh,” Jenna said softly, nodding her head in his direction. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

“Why are you doing this?” Josh’s voice cracked as he shook his head. She seemed nothing like Brent. Brent had given off bad vibes from the start; Jenna looked like someone that could be trusted. He wondered if that should have made him more uncomfortable.

“It’s nothing against you, I promise. I just need the money.”

“So you were brainwashing humans into finding me for you.”

Jenna sighed. “It’s not that simple. The black market is a scary place.”

“No shit!” he about yelled.

“It wasn’t my first choice, but Debby and I need to get away.” _Oh._ Josh blinked. Okay, so Debby’s new relationship... she was dating Jenna. How the tables have turned. “We want to start fresh, and you’re worth quite a bit of cash.” A half smile rose to her soft, rose colored lips. “Plus, I have inside ears.” Vecchio. He had thought he was two timing Jenna, when the whole time she had been two timing him. Josh internally cursed.

“I don’t plan on doing any experiments with you, all we need is the money. I wish you the best of luck.”

“So that’s it, huh? You’re going to sell me to someone? That’s fuckin’ _slavery,_ you know.”

Jenna shrugged. “Like I said, it’s nothing personal. Brent Wilson was a popular fellow in the community. He was able to do something extraordinary and you happened to be the end result. I didn’t even know you lived in my ex-boyfriend’s clan. I didn’t know the two of you were dating.” Her smile grew into one more menacing, causing Josh to shrink into his chair a little bit. Debby’s hand reached out for Jenna’s bicep.

“Now wait. Hear me out. I had an idea.”

Jenna raised an eyebrow. “What is it, babe?”

“What if we _do_ experiment a little on the subject?” Oh, so she wasn’t even going to say his name now? Okay. Whatever made her feel less guilty about the heinous crimes they were committing. “Brent Wilson was able to give a human _superpowers._ We could figure out how he did it and replicate it with me. I could get a talent of my own.”

She bit her lip. “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

 _At least she’s levelheaded,_ Josh thought miserably. He continued to rub the rope along the chair cautiously.

“You know how to do it. I’ve seen you doing stuff with those humans. It wouldn’t be that hard, would it? You have proof it’s possible. We have the subject for the time being. His new owner isn’t coming to get him until sometime next week.”

“New owner?!” Josh exclaimed. “How much are you guys getting?”

“All you need to know is that this person wants you terribly. I don’t think they’d mind a few scratches and bruises. Please, Jenna? You know how bad I need this. You know I’d be able to take care of you, _protect_ you--”

Jenna interrupted her girlfriend with a sigh. “Okay, okay. I’ll see what I can do.”

“What are you guys going to do with me?”

Debby scoffed. “You talk too much.” She wound her hand up and backhanded him across the face. His cheek stung, a red mark rising to the surface, as Debby pressed a kiss to Jenna’s temple and pulled her out the door. Their giggling echoed down the hallway as they moved farther away from Josh’s makeshift prison cell.

Josh groaned loudly. This was worse than he thought. He was going to be _sold into fucking slavery_ by the end of next week, and who knew what would happen next? He prayed Tyler would somehow magically know where he was and come and find him. Tyler _had_ to find him. Josh couldn’t imagine living in slavery for the rest of his existence, and he wasn’t even sure if he could die anymore. If that was the case, he’d _really_ be living in slavery for the rest of time.

He had to get out.

\---

The drive to Vecchio’s place of work was quiet. It was over by Tyler’s old house; his father was the brains of the operation, Vecchio explained, before they got on the road.

“We’ve got a place in Los Angeles we’ve been looking at renting. For now, this is where we are.”

Tyler nodded. His hands moved in his lap uncomfortably. The pressure on his ribcage was back, reminding him of Blurry’s presence. He had just been getting used to not sharing his body.

_Missed you too, asshole._

Tyler scoffed.

Vecchio cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. His speed increased steadily. “Your father should be there already. He’s trying to see if he can get a location on Josh.”

“Has he found anything?”

“Unfortunately, no. But we could totally use your help.”

“Yeah.” Tyler turned to look out the window.

Two and a half hours later, Vecchio turned down a road shaded by giant, oak trees. At the end was a large, wrought iron gate. The car stopped briefly for Vecchio to enter in the passcode and continued after the gate swung open.

They continued down the path, where at the end was a normal looking, suburban household. Tyler’s eyebrows furrowed. All of that for a house like this?

Vecchio chuckled at Tyler’s confused expression. “There’s more to this house than it seems. This is just our cover.” He pressed the garage opener hidden in the fold of the sun visor and swiftly pulled in. With a sigh, he killed the ignition and looked over at Tyler.

“You ready?”

“Yeah,” Tyler mumbled. Blurry moved around inside of him, pushing up against his ribcage. _If something jumps out at us, I’m going to hit you and then hit Vecchio._

_Why on earth would something jump out at us?_

Grumbling under his breath, Tyler climbed out of the car and followed Vecchio inside. He found himself in a small room with no doors except for the one they had come in through. Vecchio reached out and pulled a gate in front of the door.

“Going down,” he grinned, before pressing a button. The room lurched, and Tyler’s hands flew out to hold on to the walls.

 _Holy shit,_ he thought, _this is an elevator!_

“Told you this was just our cover,” continued Vecchio as he leaned against the wall and tried to look cool. Tyler probably would have made fun of him if he wasn’t so freaked out about this. This, _this,_ was some straight up Justice League shit.

When the elevator chimed with their arrival, Vecchio pulled back the gate and pushed open the door, his attention still cautiously on Tyler. He cocked an eyebrow.

“You good?”

“I’m fine,” Tyler muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Awesome, then welcome--”

“Don’t _Jurassic Park_ me, open the damn door.”

He cleared his throat. “Right, right.” Lou stepped through, Tyler hot on his heels.

And _holy shit._ Tyler had been completely accurate about this being something straight from the Justice League. The entire room was covered in large monitors and computers, with Tyler’s father sitting in the middle. Tyler and Blurry watched in awe as one of the monitors zoomed in over Los Angeles and panned over the city slowly.

“Lou?” His father called out without turning around. “Is that you?”

“Yep. I brought someone with me.” Vecchio began walking to the front of the room as Tyler’s father turned around, pulling off his headphones in the process.

“Oh. Tyler.”

“Yeah, hey Dad.” He didn’t like the fact that his father seemed irritated that he was here in the first place. Blurry didn’t appreciate it either. _Let’s give him a big hug, huh? All I have to do is put my hand at the nape of his neck..._

 _Yeah. Let’s kill my father,_ Tyler retorted, rolling his eyes. He coughed into his elbow and took a step forward as Vecchio spoke out again.

“I thought being in on our operation would help him feel better about things with Josh. He can meet the others and help us out as well.”

“I guess that makes sense.” His father continued to stare at him. “Well, I heard you had connections to The Buyer.”

Tyler snorted and collapsed down into a chair. “Yeah. More than just connections really, because we dated for two years.”

“Trouble really seems to follow you, doesn’t it?” Tyler stared back at his father in hope of making him feel just as uncomfortable as he felt at the moment.

“Where are the others?” Vecchio called out from across the room. He seemed to realize how... odd things were.

“They’re in the next room over,” Tyler’s father responded without looking over at him. Vecchio nodded.

“I’ll go get them then.” he disappeared behind a closed door, leaving Tyler and his father to continue their staring contest.

“You don’t want me here, do you?” Tyler asked, narrowing his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest and let Blurry creep up his throat.

“No, of course I’m glad you’re here. I just didn’t expect you is all.”

“You know Josh is missing, right?” he cocked an eyebrow.

“Of course. We’re looking for him right now.”

“Then why would I not be here? You know, considering he _is_ my boyfriend, and this isn’t the first time he’s been kidnapped. Not only that, but I happened to date the person that kidnapped him from my _home._ If anything, you should have been surprised if I _hadn’t_ shown up.”

Tyler’s father’s face softened. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just really wrapped up in all of this, ‘finding Brent’s success’ crap that I forgot the real reason we should be worried. Josh’s safety is our number one concern. I’m being selfish.”

“Yeah, you’re kind of being a dick,” Tyler said blatantly, unable to control himself. He was more angry at this point than overcome with sorrow. Whatever the reason Jenna was doing this for, Tyler was certain it had to do something with him. Jenna was upset that Tyler had broken up with her, and her act of revenge was to steal his boyfriend and sell him on the black market.

 _What a bitch,_ Blurry muttered under his breath. Tyler huffed in response.

The door opened then, and in a straight line, three unfamiliar faces followed behind Vecchio. The first was a girl who couldn't have been taller than 5’3, with long, curly brown hair and big eyes. She was petite, but looked like a force to be reckoned with. Behind her was a tall man with dark hair and a little bit of scruff, and behind him was another man with lighter brown hair and a little chub on his cheeks. Tyler straightened his back and watched the four of them sit in chairs and scoot further into the circle. They eyed Tyler with extreme curiosity, akin to the way Tyler’s father looked at Josh.

“So, Tyler,” Vecchio began after clearing his throat, and Tyler oddly felt like they were staging an intervention for him. “This is our team. Mandy, Dan, and Mark. And of course, your father.”

Tyler nodded his head slowly, his eyes moving around the circle. Everyone continued to look at him like he was the most interesting thing in the room, which was a bit odd, considering Tyler could tell both Dan and Mark were talents. Mandy had something peculiar about her. She was definitely human, but had certain characteristics Tyler simply couldn't put his finger on.

She smiled and spoke first, her voice raspy. “It's nice to finally meet you. Your father has told us so much about you and...” Mandy trailed off, her smile faltering, and Tyler knew exactly who she was talking about. Blurryface. Of course. Who else would it be?

“He’s more help than a burden nowadays,” he replied, hoping that would wipe the sympathy off her face, “and I’m more than sure he’d love to have a conversation with you.”

_You’re damn right I would._

A cocky half smile rose to Tyler’s face as Mandy seemed to shrink in her chair. It was good to know Blurry was on his side once more.

“Okay, let’s not start fighting. Here’s what’s going on. Tyler’s boyfriend is missing once more. He is in an extreme amount of danger. Jenna Black, aka, The Buyer, has him in her control, and we have a short time period to find him before he is sold deeper and deeper into the black market. So we’re going to share what we know, and hatch out a plan to find him.”

“How sure are we that Jenna’s got him?” Dan spoke in a calm, rich British accent, and it took everything Tyler had not to stare. The man’s voice was the sound equivalent of melted chocolate, and being British seemed to suddenly make him a thousand times more interesting. What the hell was he doing in California?

“I’m almost positive,” Tyler spoke, drawing the eyes back to him, “Jenna and I dated many, many years ago. When I broke up with her, I think it sparked something dark in her. I don’t think she’d be trying to find Josh to hurt him; that’s not the kind of person she is. I do, however, have a feeling this is an act of revenge.”

“Really?” Mark shifted in his seat, his eyebrows disappearing behind the mop of hair on his forehead. “You dated her?”

Tyler looked over at Lou. “Did you not tell anyone this?”

“I was getting there,” he replied sheepishly, his cheeks already starting to tinge pink. “Things have been busy these last couple of days.”

“Okay, well, yes, Jenna and I dated for a couple of years a long time ago. I really should have connected her locating talent with The Buyer, but now that I know it’s her, I can help you guys recognize if it’s something she would do or not. We know Josh is in Los Angeles. We know L.A. is six hours away from where we currently are. Now all we need to do is figure out how to find him.”

“I’m looking,” Tyler’s father spoke up, gesturing to the screens behind him that were still panning slowly over the city. Tyler wondered briefly if his father was using a drone. “If there is any suspicious activity at all, whether related to the black market trade or anything talent related whatsoever,Vecchio has set up an algorithm to alert us. We’ll find him.”

“Mark is really good at recognizing people and faces,” Vecchio added. Mark nodded.

“I specialize in video editing and photography. Pictures, and stuff. So I can locate the suspect.”

“Anyone that’s been in contact with Black that we know of, I can find. Dreams can’t hide the truth.” Dan winked. Tyler would later find out that his talent was astral projection.

“I'm the brawn here,” Mandy said sheepishly, raising her hand high. “I'll get Josh back safe and sound.”

Tyler's face twisted in confusion before he could stop himself. “How are you the brawn? You're human.”

His father grabbed his shoulder. “Mandy can talk to you privately later. It's a tough subject.”

“Oh. My apologies.”

“It's fine,” Mandy replied, but she didn't seem fine. Tyler felt terrible. Why had he said that out loud? That was one of the things Josh had been upset with him about. Would he ever learn?

“Okay, Tyler,” his father began again, bringing everyone back to the conversation at hand, “Do you have any clue where Jenna might have gone?”

Tyler shook his head sadly. “If I had, I would have gone after her myself.”

“Pete didn't know either,” Vecchio murmured.

“Okay, well that puts us back at square one then. We’ll have to keep relying on our algorithms and our team.”

“I found a place we can set up camp in over in LA. We could go down there as soon as possible. We’ll be closer and have an easy time finding him.”

“I'll go down there and search every street if I have to,” Tyler said. “We have no leads and I'm getting impatient.”

_You aren't the only one. I'm ready to crack some heads._

Tyler rolled his eyes. _You're always ready to crack some heads._

“I just don't think it's safe for you to be running off down there alone, especially with your er, complicated past with Black,” his father turned back around and began typing on his computer.

Tyler scoffed. “If anything, I think I would give me more motive.” He could feel Blurry getting more and more pissed off. His throat began to burn.

“Okay, seriously guys, let’s not fight.” Vecchio stood up and pushed his fingers into his eyes. Despite the fact that Pete and Vecchio had been at one another throats, Tyler could see quite a bit of similarities between the two of them. Both were extremely driven and independent, qualities Tyler admired.

 _He started it,_ Blurry muttered to himself. Vecchio gestured for Tyler to follow him into the next room, his eyes still darting around at his coworkers. As soon as he shut the door, Lou turned around to face the frustrated man.

“Do you want to stay here for awhile?”

“I’d like to drive down to LA and find my boyfriend,” he said firmly. Vecchio sighed again.

“Look, Tyler. We all want to find Josh, but we need to be careful. We aren’t messing with just Brent this time. We are messing with the black market. We are messing with powerful, immoral beings that want Josh _very_ badly. We don’t even know if Jenna is going to keep Josh. She very well may be selling him. We don’t know who she’s working for. We have to be careful.”

Tyler groaned and threw his hands up in frustration. “Okay, then when are you all going down there? A day is already too much time. I want to start looking.”

“We need a lead first.”

“Fuck that!” Red flashed in his irises. Tyler took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I know I need to be reasonable, I just, this is so fucking hard. I promised I wouldn’t let him get hurt again, and here he is, kidnapped by my crazy ex-girlfriend. I feel like my life is a Tom Cruise movie right now.”

Vecchio let out a snort. “I know, but we will find him. This is our job, Tyler. Mandy was in the same place Josh had been in, and she’s on our team now. Mark and Dan are both geniuses and very talented, despite the fact that Mark has no powers of his own. Your father has been doing this for many years, and I am dedicated to die for Josh. How many times do I have to say this before you believe me?”

“I do believe you. I’m just losing my mind.”

“You don’t need to be strong. That’s what we’re here for.” Lou smiled, and Tyler knew he meant it. He pulled Vecchio into a bear hug and squeezed him tightly.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“We will _find_ him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this isn't too boring


	11. Here Comes the Dun (do do do do)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for waiting patiently for the next update! The next couple of weeks will be a whirlwind of chaos, as I am moving halfway across the United States for college, so I hope you'll be patient with me. I'll try and get another one up before I officially move!

The rope split.

Josh took a deep breath as he leaned against the back of his chair. After hours of rubbing the rope against fraying wood, he had managed to get out, and massaged his wrists gently behind him. 

His plan now was to get out of the room and find a way to contact Tyler. He was thankful he had taken the time to memorize Tyler’s phone number, or he really would have been screwed.

Slowly, Josh pulled all the pieces off of him and let them slide to the ground before he stood up, using the wall as support. His knees about buckled after sitting for so long, so he walked around to gain some more feeling in his legs.

Then, Josh tried the door.

His heart was racing, because he was more than sure they locked it. That would be the very obvious thing to do, right? And Josh wasn’t sure if he had enough in him to break the door down. Besides, that would be very loud and definitely draw attention.

He waited for what felt like hours, but was probably only about one or two minutes, anxiety swelling in his chest like a balloon. Josh was wasting time. He had to hurry. Why was he just  _ standing here? _

Because he didn’t want to face Debby. He didn’t want to face Jenna. He didn’t want to deal with having to escape again.

Josh felt like this was going to keep happening and it made him feel even more worse. Even if he did manage to escape and get back to Tyler, who was to stop him from getting kidnapped again? Debby had walked right in and put a gun to his head. Brent had waltzed right in and charmed his way into the family so he could steal Josh away along with several others.

Who would take him next?

He ran a hand through his hair. Time to stop thinking and start acting on impulse. He didn’t have time to waste.

Josh wrapped his hand around the doorknob and turned, his eyelids slamming shut. He waited for it to stop, to prove it was locked.

But it wasn’t.

With a small laugh, Josh pulled the door open slowly and stuck his head out. The hallway was long, but empty, and looked just like the hallway of a normal house, despite the fact that everything seemed like it was a thousand years old and falling apart. There were floorboards missing and weird stains on the wall.

He took a step forward, causing a floorboard to creak. Josh stopped immediately, his hand still on the doorknob, and held his breath. He could hear Debby and Jenna whispering to each other. Josh couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but it still worried him. They could be talking about what they were going to do with him, or where they were taking him, or to whom he was being sold to. Whatever they were talking about, it was making his skin crawl.

Josh continued down the hallway, pausing every so often when a floorboard creaked in case Debby or Jenna heard him. Neither one seemed to notice Josh had managed to escape. He turned around the corner into a rotting kitchen with a rusted fridge and oven, and there, almost like it was fate, was Debby’s phone, sitting right on the island. He took a deep breath, thanked God, and reached for her phone. He froze when he once more heard Jenna’s soft voice, and continued when it faded from his ears. 

Josh almost dropped to his knees to pray when he proved Debby still had the same phone password (she used the same password for everything) and immediately went to her messages. Jenna and Debby really were amateurs when it came to kidnapping people.

He didn’t bother to spell check, only typed as fast as possible and hoped that Tyler would get the message and come rescue him before it was too late.

 

_ Tyler, please help-- kidnapped at hose in Los eels. I’ll send you location ahd hopfulgy you can find me. DO NOT REPLY!!! _

 

He pressed send, sent Tyler the current phone location, and quickly deleted the text messages from Debby’s phone. The rising volume of the girl’s voices sent him scurrying to return the phone back to the countertop and duck behind the island just in time as they walked in.

“We’ll have to take him to the lab,” Jenna said, not sounding too certain. Josh found himself hoping she would somehow convince Debby not to go through with it. Once upon a time, he had thought having super powers would be awesome. Now that he had them, he wished he could turn back time to the good ole’ days, when he was nothing but a stupid idiot.

Well, a stupid  _ human  _ idiot.

“Okay then. We take him to the lab. You get some DNA samples and we figure out how Brent did this. Then I get powers of my own.”

“If this works, you’ll have the same talent as him.”

“That’s fine. It won’t matter anymore when we ship him off to our client. He’ll probably be dead three weeks from now.” Debby let out a bitter laugh, which sent chills down Josh’s spine. He didn’t dare breathe.

“Come on Debs, I know he hurt you, but you shouldn’t be wishing death on people.” Jenna spoke in a disapproving tone, causing Debby to sigh loudly.

“I know. I’m just worked up is all. I hate him, Jenna, I fucking hate him.”

“I know baby, c’mere.” Although he couldn’t see, Josh was sure they were kissing now. He slowly cracked one eyelid and raised his head high enough to look over the edge of the countertop, where, sure enough, the two were lip locked. Now was the time for him to leave. If he could only last a few hours wandering around the house, then Tyler could get to him, especially if he brought Mikey along. Josh just had to make sure he wouldn’t get...

“Someone likes to eavesdrop.”

Caught.

Debby grabbed Josh by his shirt collar and slammed him against the edge of the counter, causing the wound on his shoulder to throb in agony. He let out a whimper of pain.

“You dumb idiot,” she giggled, “you thought you could sneak out?”

Jenna appeared at her girlfriend’s side, her arms crossed over her chest and a deep frown on her face. “Sorry Josh, but we really can’t have you leaving. Wouldn’t look very good on our part.”

“So rope isn’t going to work. We’ll have to use zipties this time. Should have just used those stupid things first.”

“Please listen to me. I know you both hate me. I know. But you can’t do this. Debby, you’ll regret it, it’s not fun, let me tell you--” Josh was abruptly cut off by his ex-girlfriend slamming his head into the counter. His vision stirred as he blinked a few times.

“I don’t care what you have to say. Speak again, and I’ll cut out your fucking tongue.”

“Debby,” Jenna said softly, unfolding her arms to touch her shoulder. “Breathe.”

The redhead took a deep breath through her nose and let Josh slump to the floor. “Sorry. I’m getting a little worked up.”

“We’re moving him anyways. Just knock him out. It’ll make things easier on our part.”

Debby grinned. “Good idea.”

Josh put his hands in front of his face. “Please, don’t!”

A fist to his temple turned everything black, and Josh’s unconscious body slumped to the ground.

\---

Tyler was in the middle of a conversation with Mark, explaining to him what Jenna looked like, when he received a text from an unknown number. Immediately he stood up and began freaking out.

“This is from Josh. This is from JOSH!”

The group of avengers quickly gathered around Tyler to read the text message. His father was the first to speak.

“He must have been typing fast. Half of this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Sure it does,” Mark exclaimed, reaching out to take the phone out of Tyler’s phone. “Tyler, please help. Kidnapped at hose, that's house, in Los Eels, that’s obviously Los Angeles, and we already know he’s there. I’ll send you a location and hopefully you can find me.” He looked over at Tyler’s father in pure confusion. “You seriously didn’t understand that?”

“He’s old,” Tyler whispered, pulling his phone back from the talent. “He sent me a location. That means we can go, right?”

“If you don’t mind,” Tyler father’s took Tyler’s phone away from him and swiveled back to the computer to enter the address. The monitor zoomed in over a house that looked about a thousand years old. “He’s in here. We have to move quickly.”

“Mikey,” Tyler thought immediately, straightening his back, “he can teleport. He can get us there instantaneously!”

“We really shouldn’t be bringing in any more outsiders,” Vecchio started, stopping abruptly when Tyler pivoted around and grabbed him by the shirt collar. His eyes flashed with red.

“You wanna try again?” Tyler growled.

Vecchio’s eyes widened as he nodded slowly. “Yeah, get Mikey. That sounds great.”

“He already knows about this stuff with Josh and the black market anyways. Remember, Dad?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“I can call him,” Tyler stood on his tiptoes to swipe his phone off the computer desk and opened up his contacts. “All Mikey needs is an address.”

All of them looked at Tyler like he was crazy. He could feel Blurry growing more and more irritated with each passing second. 

_ They don’t seem to be understanding that Josh needs to be rescued now. Do I need to scare some sense into them? _

Tyler rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, letting his roommate take control. His eyes blinked red and he glared angrily at the group.

“What the fuck is wrong with all of you? Do you not want us to save our goddamn boyfriend? An innocent dude is about to get fucking sucked into the black market. Give me the fucking address before I start killing all of you.”

Mandy looked the most terrified out of everyone else in the room. Tyler figured it was because half of them had already witnessed Blurry at his peak. “A-Address, right.” she stuttered it out, and after a rather rude thank you, he went to make his phone call.

“Hey Ty-Guy,” Mikey answered happily. Blurry grunted.

“I’m texting you an address. Please be here as soon as possible in normal looking clothes. We need you to take us to Los Angeles.”

“Is this... we? Whaddya mean?”

“If you don’t get your ass here in ten seconds, I will end your life.”

“Jesus, okay. Give me a second to change.” The call ended, and Blurry marched back into the circle, his hands deep in his pockets to avoid touching anyone, as much as he wanted to. He knew he and Tyler could accomplish way more alone than these idiots ever could.

_ You don’t know that. _

“Do too,” Blurry muttered under his breath, still glaring at the group. Every second that passed was a second too long. Josh could be gone by now. He could be hurt, in pain,  _ dead-- _

Mikey’s sudden presence was made rather loudly as he tumbled into a chair and landed hard on the ground. The group looked over at the blonde as he popped back up and smiled politely.

“Uh, hey guys.” he nodded towards Blurry. “Tyler.”

“Try again, asshat.” Blurry glared.

Mikey cleared his throat. “Uhm, sorry. So uh, what do you guys need me to do?”

“Take us to Los Angeles. We have no time to waste. Each passing second is another moment he could have been sold and lost forever. We have an address. We need to go  _ now.” _

Fortunately, everyone seemed to understand how serious BF was and quickly prepared to leave. Mikey joined Tyler’s father to view the address while Mandy, Mark, Dan, and Vecchio disappeared into the other room to change and get their weapons.

BF hung out in the back corner, his arms crossed, as he grinned smugly to himself.  _ Seems I can do a helluva lot more than you can. _

Tyler rolled his eyes.  _ Yeah, that’s because you can kill people so everyone is afraid of you. _

Mandy came back in then, her long, curly hair in a ponytail. She was tucking a gun in the waistband of her pants as she made her way to Tyler’s father’s side. Dan was wearing a letterman’s jacket, while Mark was in a t-shirt and jeans. Vecchio had changed into some tighter pants.

Tyler thought about it. If he did end up having to face Jenna, would he be able to fight her? To hurt her to stop her from hurting Josh?

Maybe it was a good thing he hadn’t rushed to LA himself. He probably would have froze up the second he saw her face.

Brent had meant nothing to him, but Jenna had meant  _ everything _ to him. Even after all this time, Tyler knew there was a part of him that still cared about Jenna, even though she had turned towards kidnapping and ruining people’s lives.

Blurry made it very clear that he didn’t care about either one of them, or anyone in this entire room. He only cared about finding Josh. Fortunately, he gave control to Tyler easily, and the brunette was able to politely join the conversation.

“Okay, so I’m only going to be able to take two of you at a time,” Mikey explained as everyone gathered around him. He glanced over at the old house on the screen once last time. “Tall guy and little girl, I’ll take you first.”

Mandy frowned. “First off, not little. I’m twenty-five. Second off, just because I’m short doesn’t mean--”

“Mandy, come on.” Vecchio interrupted, nudging her Mikey’s way. She grumbled under her breath as he set a hand on her shoulder. Dan joined his other side.

“My name’s Daniel, by the way,” he tried to say, but Mikey cut him off.

“Close your eyes, you might get a bit sick on the landing.” he winked at Tyler before the three of them disappeared. Mark blinked a few times.

“That’s got to be a wicked awesome power to have.”

“Yeah,” Tyler agreed, “and it’s even better that we have him around to do stuff for us.”

Vecchio snorted. “Nice. Don’t let him hear you say that.”

“I would never.” 

When Mikey came back, he took Mark and Vecchio with him next, which left Tyler alone with his father. They shared a look.

“We’ll find him,” his dad said softly.

“I know,” Tyler responded firmly. He was quick to let Mikey rest a hand on his shoulder after the blonde’s return, his grip tightening. Tyler shut his eyes. 

_ I’m coming, J. _

\---

When Josh came to, it was pitch black. His wrists were bound once more, with zipties (true to Debby’s word) and when he stretched his legs, they hit the edge of a wall before he could fully extend them. His entire body jostled with each movement, and Josh came to the conclusion that he was in the trunk of a car. With a grunt, Josh wiggled his arms out from underneath himself and reached to feel the edge of the vehicle. If he strained his ears enough, he could faintly hear the radio playing.

_ Shit,  _ Josh thought. He felt himself beginning to panic. Tyler would show up at that house only to discover he was no longer there, and then  _ he  _ would start panicking.

Josh felt sick to his stomach. He stopped moving and stopped to catch his breath, letting out a sigh of defeat. His entire body was sore, but his shoulder still throbbed with pain. Neither girl had bothered to clean his wound, which meant it was probably infected, which meant it was going to hurt a lot more than usual. His temple hurt too, and he could feel where a small trail of blood had dried after Debby had knocked him out.

The car stopped, and the radio was shut off. Josh held his breath as loud footsteps made their way around the vehicle and stopped, where the trunk was ripped open. Josh squinted in the sudden sunlight, and grunted in pain as Debby and Jenna pulled him harshly out of the trunk and dropped him to the ground. He landed hard on his shoulder and shouted loudly before he could stop himself. Jesus, that  _ hurt. _

“Shut up,” Debby whispered harshly, kicking him hard in the stomach. She yanked him up by his armpits and dragged him through the back door. They were in a tiny building that still had a “For Lease” sign plastered in the window, although Josh assumed that wasn’t really the case. Either they were here legally and that was just a ploy to make it seem empty, or maybe they were here with no one knowing.

Josh was led down a flight of stairs into a dark basement and through a door into a lab that looked extremely new compared to the rest of the place. It even looked a lot cleaner, compared to Brent’s. Josh was pretty sure he would  _ never  _ forget what that place looked like.

Debby slammed him down into a chair and cut his ties so she could strap him to it. He didn’t even bother to fight back, in too much pain to do so. She ziptied his ankles, wrists, and forearms before stepping back to admire her work.

“How do you feel, baby?”

“Please be careful. I’m warning you.”

Debby scoffed. “I’m pretty sure we’ve got enough warnings from you for now. Jenna, what do we need to do?”

She cleared her throat, her face still full of worry. Josh knew she was his only hope. Debby had seemingly lost any last bit of sanity she had. “Uhm, I just, I need to take a few DNA samples. A hair, some blood, a swab of the inside of his cheek--”

“Anyway I can help?” Debby smiled viciously, causing Josh to shrink in his chair. He wanted her nowhere near him. Josh was  _ scared  _ of her, of what she would do.

“No, no. This is something I’ve got to do on my own.” Jenna ventured over to a cabinet and reached to put on a pair of bright blue vinyl gloves. She pushed her hair out of her face and got to work setting up a microscope and some slides. Josh watched carefully, feeling his aching skin starting to crawl. He wondered if he’d be able to communicate with Tyler, being this far away. It was worth trying, wasn’t it?

_ Ty? I don’t know if you can hear me, but God, I’m in so much pain right now. I don’t know what’s going to happen, and, and, I’m scared out of my freaking mind, dude. I hope everything is okay back home. I hope you’ll be able to find me before the week is up, because if not... _

Josh took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tried to forget where he was.

_ I might be lost forever. _

He waited, and waited, and  _ waited,  _ but no reply came. Josh felt his throat staring to burn. He wasn’t going to cry, that was ridiculous. Josh just needed to keep his head up, that was all. Tyler would find him, he was certain of it. Tyler was smart. He’d realize Josh wasn’t back at the house and find clues that would lead him here, like Sherlock Holmes. He could do it.

“Hey, Debby?” Jenna interrupted the tense silence without looking back. She continued to set up her “experiments.”

“Yes?”

“I’m starving. Do you think you could go get some sandwiches somewhere? Just, I know this is going to take awhile and I don’t want to work on an empty stomach. You probably won’t, either.”

“Yeah, of course. Where do you want me to go?”

Jenna turned around, a fake plea on her face. “Jimmy Johns? Number sixteen?”

Debby chuckled, her cheeks turning red. Josh couldn’t believe this. They were acting like he wasn’t even in the room. Did they have no guilt for what they were doing? None at all? Not even a little bit?

“Definitely. Two Club Lulu’s it is.” Yep, he should have assumed they weren’t going to feed him. Josh’s stomach growled at the mention of food as Debby walked out of the room. The door slammed shut, and then there were two.

Jenna continued to work, the only sound the clinks of glass as she moved test tubes out of the way and fiddled with some petri dishes. Josh thought he would try again. He just needed to get it through her head that this was a terrible idea-- and then maybe she could convince her girlfriend.

“Jenna, I know you probably don’t want me talking, but please, hear me out. You guys... you need to be careful. Brent, he killed a lot of people with these experiments. The average human couldn’t hold out on the effects. I just,” he sighed, “I happened to be lucky. I managed to survive, but it was very,  _ very _ painful. I know I wronged Debby. I know Tyler wronged you. I don’t care about the black market shit. I care about your wellbeing. Debby doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into.”

With a sigh, Jenna turned around and rested her elbows on the countertop. “This wasn’t the plan. The plan was to keep you in that old house until your new owner could come for you. It would be a week tops; then we’d get the money and it’d be over. But you know, Debby has always been sensitive when it comes to this subject.” she scoffed. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this.”

“Because you’re level headed. You know what you’re doing. All I’m saying is that you guys  _ can’t _ go through with this.”

“I’m sorry Josh, but Debby wants this. I love her. I want to start a life with her. This is what she wants. We get you for a week, so I’m going to do my damndest to make her happy. Why do you care so much, anyways? It’s not like it’s really going to affect you.”

Jenna made her way over to Josh and reached out to pull a hair off his head. He winced for a second, still watching her as she laid the hair on a slide and used an eyedropper to cover it in a dab of water. Josh was frustrated. Extremely frustrated.

“No, it’s not going to affect me, but it’ll affect the both of you, and I don’t want either one of you getting hurt.”

She snorted. “I have a hard time believing that. The conversation is over.”

Josh wanted to keep talking. He wanted them to stop doing this. He wanted to get it through their thick heads that they were  _ making a mistake--  _ but he didn’t. Josh only sat still, watching Jenna continue with whatever the hell she was doing. She came back up to him two other times: one to swab the inside of his cheek with a Q-tip and the other to reopen his (infected) shoulder wound to get some of his blood. Jenna didn’t even seem bothered by the fact that he was shaking in pain or that loud sounds were leaving his mouth. None of that seemed to matter.

He took some heavy breaths and leaned his head against the back of the chair. Suddenly, Jenna gasped.

“Shit.”

“What?” He perked up, ignoring his burning shoulder.

“Your cells... they are... unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. They are extremely mutated.” She turned around to look at him, her brow furrowed. “I have no idea how you are alive. I assume that’s radiation?”

Josh nodded. “Yeah, Brent--”

Jenna interrupted him. “I don’t know how Brent managed to do this. This is going to take a long time for me to even begin to...” she trailed off, realizing that she was saying all of this in front of Josh. Jenna shook her head and cleared his throat. “Doesn’t matter. Debby should be back soon. I’m gonna go wash up.”

“Jenna, wait. Am I... in danger?”

“I can’t... I can’t answer that, Josh.” And without another word, Jenna disappeared, leaving Josh all by himself.


	12. No Gas in the Tank, No Money in the Bank

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeez, sorry it's been so long since the last update. I'm starting my freshman year of college so things have been a bit crazy, and unfortunately the updates will probably be spread out more thinly as the school year goes on. Please bare with me, I feel terrible but this is where I'm at at the moment.

The house was large, intimidating, and very,  _ very  _ old. The lawn was covered in weeds, the windows were boarded up, and the siding was falling apart. Tyler blinked a few times and cracked his knuckles. Looks like they were heading around back.

“This place looks a million years old,” Mark muttered under his breath as Tyler led the way. The other six of them filed in behind him.

“We already knew that,” Mandy grumbled, still irritated from her banter with Mikey. Apparently she really didn’t like being called short.

“Here. The door is unlocked.” Tyler gestured to the broken lock on the door, where small pieces of wood were splintering from where it had been kicked in. His father grunted.

“Good to know Josh led us in the right direction. Let’s head inside, shall we?”

Tyler knew the chances of finding Josh were slim, but he was still hopeful that somehow Jenna hadn’t found out that Josh had managed to contact him. Blurry was frustrated and he made it very evident. Tyler’s entire chest ached. Part of him knew they wouldn’t find Josh in here. The first clue was that there was no noise inside. No heartbeats, no footsteps, no nothing; only the faint sound of cars on the road and birds chirping in the trees.

The group split up to look around, their weapons drawn as they tiptoed in different directions. Tyler went alone, his heart beating quickly, as he rounded a corner and stopped in the middle of the hallway.

He could smell him. Josh. He had a very distinct natural musk, one that smelled like pine trees and campfires and cinnamon scented candles. Tyler had always had a good sense of smell, it was yet another perk of being a talent; he was pretty sure he’d be able to spot Josh anywhere just by his scent.

Tyler continued forward. Blurry pressed even harder against his ribcage, almost to the point where Tyler was sure he’d have bruised ribs by the next morning. He rounded a corner, passing rotting wood and graffiti art, and into a room with a knocked over folding chair. Josh had been here, Tyler was sure of it, but now...

He was gone. They were too late.

That was the final straw. With an angry growl, Tyler turned and slammed his fist into the wall. What the fuck were they going to do now? Josh was gone. They had no more leads. They had no time-- Josh could be sold into slavery any day now.

Tyler was a failure. He had promised to protect Josh, and he didn’t. Now Josh was gone, kidnapped, somewhere in a large, unfamiliar city.

Mandy poked her head around the corner and frowned when she saw Tyler clutching his bloody hand to his chest as he knelt on the floor. She made her way to him and laid a hand gently on his shoulder.

“He’s not here, is he?”

“No,” Tyler felt turns burning at his eyes. Blurry was yelling at him.  _ Screaming  _ at him.  _ You fucking idiot, this is all your fault. _

BF was right. This was Tyler’s fault. He got cocky, he said he could protect him--

“I can tell part of you knew he wouldn’t be.”

Tyler swallowed loudly and squeezed his eyes shut. “We had a lead. I know he was here, I can smell him--”

“So that’s his scent, huh? Good to know.” Her grip on his shoulder tightened. “Tyler, I know we don’t know each other very well, but we’re going to get him back, okay? We’ll bring him home safe and sound. I know how the black market works. I’ve been there before.”

Tyler sniffed a few times and looked the younger girl in the eyes. She was truly stunning, and also extremely intimidating. Mandy also had a softness to her. She could be trusted. He could see that in her eyes.

“You have?”

She nodded. “I was kidnapped and sold as a human test subject many years ago. I was stolen from my home in New York and thrown into the back of a car. I knew nothing about talents or another species at all. But these people, they acted like they were Gods, and they, they did all these terrible things to me. I was so sick, I could barely walk. I was slowly starving, my skin was covered in open sores and I couldn’t even speak. They didn’t stop. They injected me with things, watched me scream, tortured me...” Mandy trailed off, her eyes rolling to the ceiling. This must have been hard for her to talk about. Her facial expression was the same one Josh got when he talked about Brent. It was one of deep pain and trauma. “When Chris, your father, and Vecchio found me, I was on the brink of death. They nursed me back to health and gave me some cures. They couldn’t fully reverse the effects; I’m still stronger and faster than I had been, but I’m healthy and still mostly human. Without them, I’d be dead. So I dedicated my life to stopping these evil people and rescuing the victims. Josh is just as important as the rest of them. He’s a special dude, being infamously known as Brent’s success, but we’ll rescue him, if it’s the last thing we do.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Tyler whispered. His hand burned.

“No problem. I know that poor guy can’t catch a break, but after this, we’ll do our damndest to make sure no one else gets their hands on him. Even if it means I have to stand guard outside his bedroom for the rest of eternity. Now come on, lemme see your hand. I’ve got a first aid kit in my bag, for times like these.”

Tyler listened. Blurry began to back off as Tyler offered her his hand and watched her closely as she unzipped her backpack and pulled out the first aid kid. First thing she did was clean it with some rubbing alcohol (which stung painfully) before lathering it with neosporin and wrapping it with gauze. She patted his arm gently and smiled. “There, all better. Try not to punch any more walls, okay?”

He nodded. Mandy leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek. “Do you trust us? Trust me?”

“I...” Tyler  _ did _ trust them. All of them, even his father, were so willing to give up their lives to help people. “I do. You guys are all such good people.”

“We’re going to find Josh, okay? Now that we have your friend helping us, all we have to do is go back to HQ, do some research, and look into where Josh and Black could have gone. Then Mikey can take us back. Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah. That works.”

“You should get some rest. There’s a couple rooms back at HQ that you can stay in while we do some investigating.”

“Lee? Is my son with you?” Tyler’s father popped his head around the door frame and pressed his lips into a solid line. “Josh isn’t here. We searched top to bottom.”

“Yeah, we established that. Time to head back to HQ. Lil’ Joseph here needs to get some sleep and rest his injured hand.”

His father raised an eyebrow. “How’d that happen?”

“Long story,” Mandy answered for him, even though it wasn’t a long story at all. Tyler was more than sure everyone in the house had heard him screaming. 

She helped Tyler stand up. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled in response, giving the room one more glance before following Mandy out.

\---

Debby and Jenna ate right in front of him, laughing and chatting like Josh wasn’t even there. He knew his stomach was growling loud enough for the girls to hear, but they ignored him. It had definitely been over 24 hours since he had last ate.

After that, Debby threw away their trash, Jenna washed her hands, put her gloves back on, and got back to work. Debby paced back and forth, her head down. She refused to look Josh’s way.

Josh had decided in that moment that he wasn’t going to give them the reaction they wanted from him anymore. Debby seemed to lay off of him when he didn’t react to her actions.

She suddenly stopped pacing and looked over at Jenna. “How many days do you think this will take?”

Jenna sighed and spoke without looking back at her. “At least a couple of days. I’ve got to find a binding agent for your cells similar to what Brent used for Josh. There’s a bunch of different options here.”

“That’s not too bad. I believe in you, baby.” A grin spread across her face as she made her way to the counter Jenna was working at and opened up a drawer to reveal a shiny, new pair of scissors. Josh didn’t flinch, although he knew his Adam’s apple was bobbing rapidly and sweat was gathering at his hairline. Debby was unpredictable. “Do you need more hair?”

“Only problem is the dye makes it hard to see the keratin cells,” Jenna muttered, scrunching her nose as she tilted her head and looked at the slide with a strand of Josh’s neon yellow hair.

“I think I can take care of that.” Debby’s smile turned vicious in seconds as she grabbed a fistful of his hair and snipped it clean off with her scissors. Josh remained still, trying his hardest not to move. She wouldn’t gauge a reaction out of him, not if he could help it.  _ It’s just hair,  _ he repeated to himself a few times,  _ it’ll grow back. _

Debby cut some more of his hair off before she got bored and seemed to realize that Josh wasn’t saying anything. The strawberry blonde returned to the drawer next to Jenna to exchange her scissors for an electric razor. That stupid, evil grin was back as Debby plugged the razor in and made her way back over to Josh’s chair.

Josh’s hair had never been short, ever since he could remember. His hair had volume, length,  _ layers, _ to it, even when it had been shaved on the sides. Maybe this would be a good thing for him, though. Even though he’d look like an idiot for a couple of weeks, at least it’d grow back healthy. Dying his hair so many times had turned it into a straw like texture.

The buzz of the electric razor in his ears was so loud that Josh closed his eyes. He resorted to chewing on his lip as Debby shaved his hair off, being harsh every way she moved it. Josh could feel hair falling into his lap, down his shirt, onto the floor, and it became itchy and irritating and harder for him to not react. He continued to tell himself to stay calm,  _ it’s just hair, it’s just hair, it’s just hair. _

It felt like hours before the razor shut off and Debby leaned close enough to his ear that Josh could feel her warm breath against it.

“How’s it feel,” she growled, “to lose something precious to you?” Josh said nothing.  _ No reaction. Don’t give her a reaction. _ “That’s what it felt, when you left. You took my heart, and you smashed it into pieces.”

Nothing. Josh opened his eyes and stared straight ahead, at the tiled backdrop behind Jenna. He could see his neon hair all over the floor out of his peripheral vision and Debby standing next to him.

Suddenly, her nails dug into his chin, forcing Josh to look at her. He did, but continued to say nothing. Debby didn’t say anything back and let him go, using the silence as a cue to leave the room. Josh let out a deep breath, like he had been holding it for days now. 

One of Jenna’s dishes crashed to the floor, sending glass scattering everywhere. Josh looked up at her tense body. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. It made the atmosphere in the room worse. “I’m sorry she’s acting this way.”

“It’s just hair,” Josh shrugged, “it’ll grow back. I know I wronged her.”

“It doesn’t give her the right to do this kind of shit. I just, I got to get this cure done, and then things will be better. She won’t be as angry or upset.”

“She’s bullying you,” Josh said calmly. “Your relationship--”

Jenna scoffed, interrupting him. “I don’t need you to give me relationship advice, thank you. She’s not  _ bullying  _ me. I’m doing this because I love her, because I want to help her, because I want her to be happy. Debby wants this, needs this, and I’m the person that can help. If I focus hard enough, put in enough effort, I know I can get this done.” With another sigh, Jenna pulled off her gloves, pushed her hair back again, and began cleaning up all of Josh’s hair before moving to sweep up the tiny glass shards. He felt relief when all of it had been removed from his lap and down his shirt.

“Thank you,” he spoke. Jenna shook her head.

“It’s not a big deal. Debby will be back soon. I really should get back to this.” Jenna reached for a new pair of gloves and froze when Josh started speaking again.

“I know she’s not a bad person, Jenna.” He swallowed nervously. “I dated her for several years. I loved Debby, just like you do. But her and I, we didn’t work well together, and I left. I had too many of my own problems that I didn’t want dragging her down. The way she is acting now, I know this isn’t how she normally is. She’s upset, and acting out from stress and grief. I understand that. I’ve been there. Tyler and I, our relationship--”

“Don’t bring him up,” Jenna growled, whipping back around to face him. “You are getting cocky, Joshua. Just because I’ve allowed you to speak doesn’t mean you get to say whatever the hell you want. End it here, right now, or I  _ will _ hurt you.”

He closed his mouth. A few minutes of silence passed, and Debby had still not returned. Josh knew he was pushing his luck, but his first step in getting out was to convince Jenna that she was making a mistake. She was levelheaded. He could get through to her, if he just tried hard enough. “Am I in danger of dying? I know you said my cells--”

“Do you think you’re immortal?” She asked it in a tone that made Josh think this wasn’t the first time she had dealt with something like this.

“I’ve been told I’m neither dead nor alive, so, whatever that means.”

Jenna nodded as she continued her work. She looked down into her microscope. “Yeah, a state of limbo. Your cells have stopped working properly, because they don’t know what to do. You aren’t alive, so more aren’t being made, and you aren’t dead, so your body isn’t deteriorating. I’m honestly surprised you’ve lasted this long without getting severely ill. I’m sure your immune system will tank any day now. You won’t last much longer without proper help. Brent really did a number on you, especially with how heavily irradiated your cells are.”

“Can you help me?” Josh found himself getting more and more worried. He  _ could _ die. In fact, if they didn’t do anything soon, he  _ would  _ die, a lot sooner than later.

Jenna ignored him. He could see it in her body language that she wanted to say something, because her shoulders were tense, and her arms swung in short, rigid movements-- yet the blonde said nothing. Josh’s hands began to shake.

“I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

Nothing. She was pulling the wool over his eyes, using Josh’s same tactic he had used on Debby only minutes earlier. Except now he was going to die  _ and  _ had no hair.

“You can’t give me warning signs or anything? Nothing at all? Do you want me to die, on your hands, knowing you could have stopped it?”

“Stop pushing your luck,” she said softly, craning her neck to glare at him. The door clicked, and Debby came back in.

“I’m sorry for getting upset,” she mumbled, nuzzling her head into Jenna’s neck. She pressed a kiss to Jenna’s cheek and forced a smile. “We can go home for the day, if you want to. I’m sure the subject will be fine on his own. He’s not going anywhere, not with the collar and the zipties.”

“Sure, just give me about ten more minutes and we can go, sound good?”

“Yeah babe, sounds fantastic. I love you.” Debby kissed Jenna again, passionately this time. Josh knew her game, knew what she was doing, because Debby looked right at him. He narrowed his eyes and thought about Tyler.

Was he scared? Had he already gotten to the house and realized Josh wasn’t there? What was he doing?

_ I’m sorry,  _ Josh thought, hoping there would be some slim chance Tyler would hear him.  _ I’m so sorry. I thought... they caught me, and we moved, and I don’t think we’ll be able to come back from this one, Ty. So, I’m letting you know how much I love you, and how much I love Blurry, and how tired I am. I want to be in your arms, back in our bed, under the covers. I want to kiss you and hear you laugh when my hair tickles your face and--  _ he stopped.  _ Oh, yeah. Well, I don’t have any hair at the moment, but when it grows back, it’ll do that again. I’ll grow out a beard and tickle your face with that, does that sound okay? _

He waited. And waited. And waited, watching Jenna and Debby continue to make out, but Tyler’s voice never came to his head. Josh wanted to cry, but he reminded himself to stay strong. Tyler was out there. 

Tyler would find him.

\---

Back at HQ, Tyler sat in one of the several office chairs, slumping down far enough for his legs to stretch across the floor. His hand wasn’t aching as much now, as a few hours had passed, but he still wished Dallon was around to heal it. Tyler really had taken having him around for granted. He was missing his family terribly as it was, really. Being around a bunch of strangers (minus Vecchio, Mikey, and his father, of course,) was really tiring him out. Mikey seemed to realize this and came over to sit down in the chair next to Tyler.

The team had been doing lots of research, trying to track where Josh could have gone, looking at Vecchio’s algorithm to see if anything suspicious had come up. Blurry had been quiet and calm too, leaving Tyler to worry about what possibly could have been going on with Josh. What if he was bleeding slowly to death? What if he was already  _ dead? _

“Tyler?” Mikey spoke softly, one hand reaching out to brush his arm. “Do you wanna go back home for a little while? I think it might benefit you to see everyone, since we’re all back to normal. Some crazy stuff has been happening that I think you’d really want to see.”

Tyler didn’t say anything. He stared at his Vans.

“Distractions would really benefit you. I know things seem dark right now, but you’ve got people back home who love and care for you and would love to see you again.”

He sighed. Mikey was right. Tyler could use a distraction, especially because his mind was heading to a dark place. “Yeah, you’re right. I could spend the night back home.”

Mikey smiled. “Awesome! I know Pete was going to get pizza tonight, so I hope you’re hungry.”

Tyler hadn’t eaten anything all day. His stomach grumbled almost on cue, reminding him that he was in fact, very hungry.

With the promise that he’d be back tomorrow, Tyler said goodbye, and let Mikey take him back home. Even though he had only been gone for a day, Tyler felt like he hadn’t been home in weeks. Maybe it was because of all the chaos in the building and everything that had been happening just to keep Josh safe.

The stuff that had outright failed.

He shook his head and sighed. Tyler wasn’t supposed to be thinking about that right now. There wasn’t anything they could do until the team got a lead, and they were trying very, very hard to do so. Mandy had promised they wouldn’t stop until they got somewhere, so Tyler needed to distract himself until that happened.

In the dining room, there were boxes of pizzas laid out across one of the tables, with each flavor written across the top. Mikey led Tyler over to the tables and handed him a paper plate.

“It may be a little cold, so feel free to nuke it in the microwave,” he said, waving his hands around. Tyler thought about how Josh used to just ignite his fists and heat Tyler’s food for him.

Mikey nudged him and raised an eyebrow when Tyler looked over. “Come on dude, we’ll make things fun, okay?”

Tyler nodded. “Yeah, okay.” he reached out for a few slices of pepperoni pizza and slid them onto his plate, not really caring that they were lukewarm. Mikey led him over to where the group had pushed a bunch of tables together and were gathered around it. Tyler blinked. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen everybody all together, looking happy like this.

Mikey squeezed down in between Gerard and Pete, tugging Tyler down with him. Pete tapped on Tyler’s shoulder. His eyes looked puffy, like he had been crying, but a smile still crossed his face.

“Things go okay today?”

“We thought we had found him, but no luck.” Tyler shrugged his shoulders sadly. “The team is back trying to find a trail.”

Pete’s tap turned into a half hug. “I’m sorry dude, but hey, they’ll find him. We found him once, we’ll find him again.”

“Yeah,” Tyler murmured, feeling worse by the second. Pete grabbed Tyler’s shoulder once more and pointed to Patrick across from him.

“Here’s the great news. When Vecchio switched the powers back, Patrick was in his normal form, except, you know, not missing a hand or a tongue, and look!”

Tyler looked over at the dirty blonde, who raised both his hands to push his glasses up his nose. Tyler’s eyes widened. Patrick had  _ both _ his hands.  _ Both his hands! _

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed.

“Right?” Patrick agreed, equally as excited. “I can fucking talk again! Give or take, my eyes are now two different colors, but I think that’s worth getting my missing body parts back, right?”

Tyler scoffed in disbelief. It looked like something had come out of Vecchio’s plan after all. “I’m so happy for you ‘Trick, that’s really awesome.”

“Thank you. I’m, uh, sorry about Josh though.”

“He said it was a false alarm,” Hayley spoke up, her once red hair now bleached, and a frown on her face, “so Lynn and I went back to bed. If we would have known--”

“How could you have known he would be taken?” Keegan spoke up, resting a hand on her back out of sympathy. “It’s not your fault.”

“But we could have stopped him,” Lynn argued, frowning now too. “Everything happened so quickly...”

Mikey cleared his throat. “Let’s uh, try to avoid this topic for the rest of the night, okay? We don’t need to make Tyler feel worse. The team should have a lead by tomorrow and we’ll be able to go find Josh. He’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

Everyone continued to look at Tyler. He felt his face burning. Part of him wished Blurry would come out, but it seemed his roommate was in a funk of his own.

He decided to change the subject, looking towards Dallon, who he hadn’t spoken with since the powers swap. Dallon looked tired. Deep purple bags were under his eyes and he stared into space. Tyler was more than sure having to share his body with Blurry had put a toll on him.

“Dal, you doing okay?”

Dallon looked up and forced a smile. “I’m good. Just... getting used to be back to normal.”

Tyler nodded. “As I’m sure everyone is.”

“It wasn’t for nothing though,” Dallon continued, resting his elbows on the table, “because it delayed things with Josh.”

Delayed. That was the key word there, because in the end, none of it had mattered. Josh still went missing, and he still wasn’t found.

The first time this had happened, Tyler had been furious. He had been ready to kill. Now, he was depressed, and worried, and falling apart. He couldn’t kill Jenna, not if it came down to that. She would hurt him, and he wouldn’t be able to do the same back.

“So much for avoiding the subject,” Mikey mumbled under his breath. He sighed and nudged Tyler next to him. “You wanna go downstairs, get away from everyone?”

“Yeah,” Tyler whispered. He said goodbye, and let Mikey lead him down to his bedroom, where he sulked to his desk and sat down in his chair. He wanted Josh back. He wanted to go back to when Josh had been spread out across the desk, his hands on Tyler’s hips, begging--

He pushed the thought away. Not now.

“You okay?” Mikey asked, even though he knew the answer. He frowned.

“Not really,” Tyler said. He reached for his computer, but left the lid closed. “I’m a fucking mess, Mikey.”

“That’s understandable.” Mikey slid into one of the chairs across him him and crossed his legs. “The fact that this is the second time definitely doesn’t make it any better.”

“No, it doesn’t. And I’m more than sure there will be a third, and a fourth, and I don’t know, a fifth for good measure! People  _ want _ Josh. They want him badly. And I can’t even protect my own fucking boyfriend. Jenna broke into our  _ home  _ and kidnapped him. What’s to stop other people from doing the same thing? How on earth will I ever be able to protect him?”

Mikey shrugged. “You may not be able to. Maybe you guys just need to keep traveling, you know? And I can help. We can go to... Germany, or Guam, or Spain--”

“I don’t want to run my whole life. I want to be with all of you guys. Everyone here is family. I want to have kids, and marry Josh, and, and--” Tyler stopped talking and slumped back in his chair. “I want Josh to be safe and to not be afraid. I just don’t know make that happen. And that’s not even it. What about you guys? What if something happens to you guys too?”

“We’ve upped security. We’ve made sure something like that won’t happen again.”

“But it could. It did. Josh is gone again.” With a sigh, Tyler set his head down on his desk. He felt his throat burning and tears starting to gather at the corners of his eyes. Tyler still couldn’t believe this was happening, that Josh was gone. It didn’t seem real at all. None of this seemed real.

“Ty, you can’t give up hope, okay? I know things seem dim--” Mikey was interrupted by Tyler’s ringing phone. With a sniff, Tyler held up a finger and reached out to answer his phone. His father’s panicking voice answered.

“Tyler? You have to come back to HQ right now.”

“Why? What’s going on?” He sat up straight. “Did you find something?”

“Please tell me you still have that text on your phone that Josh sent from what we assume was Jenna’s phone.”

“Yeah, why?”

“We can track the phone through the number.” His father continued on, but Tyler wasn’t listening. He was still stuck on the fact that they could track Jenna’s phone. They could find Josh.

His phone slid out of his hand and landed on his desk. He could faintly hear his father still talking as he looked up to meet Mikey’s worried expression.

“What’s wrong?”

Tyler stood up. “We have to go back right now.”


	13. Groundhog Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you sepiapages for helping me edit and write some of this chapter, you are the best <3

Back at HQ, Tyler immediately thrusted his phone into his father’s hand with the phone number from which Josh had texted from. His father nodded vigorously.

“You are quick.”

“Josh’s life is on the line, so, yeah.”

“Fair enough. Hopefully, he’s still around with Miss Black.” As Tyler’s father got to work, Tyler settled down into a chair next to him, while Mikey sat down next to Mark, who was tapping away on his phone. The blonde crossed his leg over his knee and began tapping his foot. They all sat in silence, waiting for a signal. 

“So, question,” Dan spoke up from where he was sitting across from Mikey, causing the younger Way to look up, “your teleporting thing, how does that work exactly?”

Mikey shrugged. “I’m not sure, to be honest.”

Dan frowned. “So how do you get to different places?”

“Oh! Well, I normally can just get an address and picture like, a house, a sidewalk, what the place looks like really, and I can get there.”

“Where do you usually aim?”

“Sidewalks, mostly. Sometimes the ends of driveways, or occasionally in an alleyway.”

“What if a car happens to be there or something? What then?”

“I guess I die then, I dunno. That’s why I try to be careful. What about you?”

Dan grinned. “Astral projection, which basically means my soul can leave my vessel, sort of like an out of body experience--”

Mikey interrupted him, a smile on his face, “You’re a Martian, aren’t you?”

Dan didn’t seem to get the joke. “Uhm... no?”

“Like Martian Manhunter? Justice League? Nothing?”

“Oooh. Yeah. Sure.” He shrugged. “But yeah, the being careful thing. If I die in the dreams, I’m pretty much fucked in real life. Or if something happens to my vessel while I’m out of my body, I’m also fucked. So, yeah, being careful.”

Mikey nodded. “Can you pick stuff up? Y’know, when you’re all… ghosty.”

Dan laughed. “No, not really. I mean, I can mess with things if they’re in a dream, for example, but as for real-world objects, not yet. I’m pretty sure I could work up to it though. Kinda like a poltergeist throws stuff around.” 

“That’s so cool!” Mikey’s face was reminiscent of a child with his excitement. “See, like… I dunno, I was wondering if you could project over to Josh and do stuff. That would be cool. I can’t really help because I don’t know where he is.” 

Tyler suddenly stared at him with full attention. Could Dan do something like that? What if he could carry Josh out?

Dan hesitated, twisting his bracelets. “Well, maybe. I can’t really promise much. I can get in and take a look around, but don’t get your hopes up.” He shrugged apologetically. “Sorry.”

Tyler looked down. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Got it,” Tyler’s father spoke up, causing everyone in the room to turn towards him. The front monitor zoomed in and panned over another run down building that looked more like a business than a house. Mandy pushed up from her chair and cracked her knuckles, causing all the men to look at her. She quirked up an eyebrow.

“What? I’m ready to kick some blonde ass.”

“Me too,” Tyler reciprocated her actions, although he was still feeling a bit nervous about confronting Jenna head on. It was good knowing he wouldn’t be alone.

“I’m ready for round two,” Dan agreed, looking over at Mark and Mikey who had already stood up. Vecchio stood next to Tyler’s father, with his arms crossed.

“Tyler, are you ready? I don’t know what’s going to happen with this. Josh may not even be there anymore.”

He nodded. He was ready.

\---

Josh felt ready to double over and die.

He knew his shoulder was bad because he felt extremely ill; it also didn't help that he hadn't eaten in like, two days now, and he was exhausted. Josh was uncomfortable, in pain, and trying to fall asleep was almost impossible. He managed to get a couple hours of shuteye after leaning his head back against the lip of the chair. 

His body kept rotating between heat flashes and aches and chills, so by the time Jenna came into the lab and the lights flickered on, Josh felt ready to puke and then pass out. She frowned when she noticed how pale Josh looked.

“Where’s Debby?” He croaked, trying to sound bitter, but mostly he just sounded weak and pathetic. Jenna sighed.

“She went to go get us coffee. Is your shoulder wound bothering you?”

“No, it feels great, like I’ve been sunbathing at a beach near Lake Michigan all day,” Josh muttered sarcastically as Jenna washed her hands and made her way over to him with a pair of scissors. She cut his shirt where it had been soaked with blood and was sticking to the wound. He grimaced uncomfortably but managed to keep his head up as she peeled off the fabric.

Josh knew how bad his shoulder was. It was oozing pus and turning black around the edges. Jenna sighed again, stepping back to look at it better. She reached over and pushed the back of her hand against Josh’s forehead.

“You have a fever. Okay, well, I guess I’ll just pour some rubbing alcohol on it and put some Neosporin and a bandage on. Hopefully, that helps.” Josh remained silent as Jenna pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a first aid kit out of the cabinet and got to work on trying to make things better. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, noting how gentle she was working. Josh was almost certain Debby would have never done this for him. Then again, Debby was the one that had shot him, so.

“There, all done.” She softly patted his shoulder and went to wash her hands. “I’ll give you some aspirin too, that should help numb the pain. Can you dry swallow?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

“Good. I have a granola bar in my bag that you can have too.” Jenna gave him two small, red pills, and then unwrapped and broke a chocolate chip granola bar in half and shoved both in his fists before returning to her equipment. Josh leaned his head down as far as he could to shove one-half of the bar into his mouth and chewed slowly, trying to prevent himself from becoming sicker. He watched Jenna take a small tube out of a black container and tilt it gently before pouring some of it into a petri dish.

“Shit,” Jenna breathed after a couple minutes.

“Wha?” Josh asked through a mouthful of granola.

“Your white blood cell count is... off the charts. Josh, this is not good.”

He swallowed. “I have a fever. That’s just the inflammatory response--”

“This is much worse than some reaction to a fever. This is part of the reason you’re sick. I’m going to have to do another blood test just to make sure.” Jenna opened a drawer and pulled out a needle, to which she quickly began assembling. Josh could feel himself trembling as she made her way over, swabbed his inner arm with sanitizer, and jammed it in. She filled another tube up with blood and stuck it back in its black container. “I’ll check again tomorrow, see if your blood in other places has similar effects. Jesus, Joshua, this is not good at all.”

“So I’m going to die. That’s what you were saying yesterday anyway.”

“Possibly, I’ll keep looking.” Jenna turned back to her lab table and froze when Josh spoke again.

“Why are you doing this? Helping me, I mean. Debby, she’s been nothing but rude to me, but  _ you, _ you’ve actually been decent--”

“I don’t want to talk about this Josh, okay? Please don’t push it. I’ll do what I want to do. These are  _ my  _ decisions.”

“Okay,” he replied, nodding his head. He wouldn’t push it. At least, not yet.

A few moments of silence passed. Josh closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the chair. His shoulder was feeling much better already, thank goodness.

Jenna paused and bowed her head. “I don’t... I don’t want you to die, okay? I don’t want to be responsible for another person’s death. I know... I know you hurt Debby, and I know you’re dating Tyler, and I know we kidnapped you and we’re selling you to this person and this whole thing is one big mess and it’s... it’s really... conflicting to me.”

“That’s understandable.” Josh was looking at her now. Well, her back, because she hadn’t turned around.

“But we have to do this, y’know? It’s nothing against you, we just... I love Debby. I love her a lot. It’s like, I thought Tyler and I would be together forever, but, with Debby, I  _ know  _ we will be. After we get the money, we’re going to buy this little house out in the suburbs. We’ve already looked at it and everything. And then I was going to ask her to marry me-- I’ve been looking at rings already and I really want us to be together, you know? She’s been so frustrated with all this talent stuff lately. I know her childhood was tough, because mine was too, and I’ve been in the same place as her, but I don’t want her to be mad. I want to take care of her,  _ help  _ her. Have you ever felt that way?”

Josh nodded. “Of course.”

She finally turned around and wrapped her arms comfortably around herself. “With Tyler?”

“Yeah. I’ve been in a few relationships, and they were all good, you know, but you reach a point in a relationship where you start to realize that you’re either going to break up or get married, y’know? Everyone before Tyler, when I got to that point, I didn’t see myself marrying them. And with Debby, I had a lot of my own problems I was dealing with. I didn’t think I was good enough to be dating anyone at that point. And finding Tyler was completely by accident. I was running away from these two scary looking men and the place ended up being my saving grace.” Josh shrugged, and immediately regretted it. This whole thing was weird. “Him and I, we had a lot of problems. In fact, at first, he hated my guts. We only started fooling around because it pissed Blurry off.”

Jenna scoffed. “Blurry hated me, too.”

“He hated everyone, but he’s a lot more tolerable now. I think that’s what makes my relationship with Tyler so good now. He loves me for me, and I love him for him, Blurry and all.”

She was blushing. Josh could see the guilt in her eyes. He hadn’t meant to make her feel bad, but maybe it was good, having this conversation.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? That we both ended up with each other’s exes.”

“Yeah, definitely a major coincidence. But I guess there’s a lot to talk about, huh?”

A small smile rose to Jenna’s face. She uncrossed her arms and tucked some loose pieces of hair behind her ear. “I uhm, gotta get back to--”

“Right, right. I’ll be quiet.” He had been right. Jenna was definitely level headed and much nicer than Brent. Josh felt bad because he knew the reason she was doing this was just so she could be happy and take care of Debby. He wanted her to be able to do that because Josh wanted to do the same for Tyler, but he just... didn’t want to be sold into slavery to make that happen.

An idea popped into his head. “What if you came back to Home Base? You and Debby.”

Jenna didn’t respond. Josh didn’t blame her. He knew it would take a lot of courage to go back there.

Josh continued. “I know things would be... awkward, at first, but you’d have a place to live, food to eat, a bed to sleep in, privacy, and most importantly, friends. You could talk to Tyler about... things.”

She was about to respond when Debby pushed in the door with two Starbucks cups in her hands. She made her way over to Jenna to press a kiss to her cheek before setting her drink down on the counter top. “Find anything?”

“Oh! Uhm, yeah.” Jenna’s face was bright red, obviously caught off guard. “Well, uhm, the bad news is that Josh is very sick. I dunno if putting his DNA in anything is a good idea right now--”

Debby stopped her by grabbing her shoulder tightly. She swung her head sharply to glare at Josh. Before he could even blink, Debby had backhanded him across the face. Josh yelped loudly and curled his head to his chest.

“What the fuck did you tell her? Are you lying? Did you do this on purpose?”

“I don’t think anyone would want to be sick on purpose,” Jenna defended him, reaching out to pull Debby closer to her. “I’m trying to look further into it, okay? I can still get this thing done.”

Debby scoffed angrily. “Are you  _ defending  _ him?”

“Wha-what? No!” Jenna stuttered out, stepping back. “No, I’m just, no. I’m still looking into things. I took another blood test, I’ve been looking for a binding agent, and I’m pretty sure I’ve found something, so don’t worry. I just, I don’t know how we’re going to test this.” Jenna turned back around, fumbling out of fright. She knocked another petri dish to the ground; fortunately, it didn’t break this time. Debby shook her head impatiently.

“I trust you, Jen. We don’t need to test it on anyone but myself, okay?”

Jenna looked at her in surprise as she stood back up, petri dish in hand. “Debby, that’s really not a good idea.”

“We’ll get another human then.”

Jenna blinked. “No--”

“That’s fucked up,” Josh said, hoping to turn most of Debby’s wrath on him. Sure enough, the redhead swung around, her right eye twitching. Debby reached out to grab ahold of his jaw once more and growled at him.

“You are a piece of shit, you hear me? It doesn’t matter what you say. You shouldn’t be talking. In fact, I oughtta cut out your fucking tongue, break your fucking jaw, so you can be in as much pain as I was--”

“Debby!” Jenna raised her voice. Josh was surprised, considering how mellow she seemed when it came to her girlfriend. “That’s enough! I can’t do this anymore. You... you have turned into a raging bitch, you know that?”

Debby’s face softened. She looked pained. “What?”

“I understand that Josh hurt you. Tyler hurt me in the same way. But you  _ gotta move on. _ I feel like maybe... you’re still in love with him.”

“No, no, Jenna, I promise I’m not--”

“I need you to stop, okay? I’ve let you yell and scream and say nasty things, but revenge is not worth it. Tormenting him is not going to change the past. You’ve got to move on.”

Her eyes flickered back over to the red handprint on Josh’s face and the small crescent marks that were embedded into his jaw. “Jenna--”

“Tyler hurt me so badly, but I didn’t say a single word to him. I left. And now I have you. You mean the world to me. I want to do everything I can to help you feel better about the situation we are in, but I can’t do that when you’re obsessing over an ex-boyfriend from several years ago. Can we please try to be civil?”

Debby nodded. She tucked her hands into her pockets. “I’m sorry.”

“Maybe you should tell him that.” Jenna gestured to Josh with a nod of her head. Debby glared at him.

“Sorry,” she mumbled under her breath, sounding not sorry at all. Josh at least appreciated the effort, despite how weird this entire situation was. This was definitely a lot different than his last kidnapping experience.

Jesus. Most people didn’t have one kidnapping experience, nonetheless  _ two. _

“Good. I’m going to get back to work now.”

“I’ll uh, go find someone for us to test this serum on.”

“I’ll try to have a prototype done by the end of the night.”

With a nod of her own, Debby disappeared back out of the door. Josh blinked and looked back at Josh.

“We can’t go back there,” Jenna said, responding to his question from earlier. “We need a fresh start, with no familiar faces.”

“Where’s this house at that you guys were looking at?”

“Europe.” Some test tubes clinked together. Jenna used a pair of tweezers to place a small, white pill in a tube of green liquid and watched it sizzle until nothing remained. With a sigh, she pushed the tube to the side and reached for one with a red liquid inside. “It’s in the countryside. We’re tired of city living. Debby wants to get a bunch of cats, and I want to start gardening, and it’s our dream home, really.”

“So you’re willing to sell me into slavery to make that happen.”

The pill dissolved in the red liquid as well. Jenna seemed even more frustrated. “Debby comes first. I’d rob a bank for her if I had to. I’d steal bread if she was hungry. I’d kill if she was threatened. You’d do the same for Tyler, no?”

Josh didn’t answer.

“Don’t you guys ever get tired of living between cement walls with a bunch of loud roommates?” No, he wanted to say, but Jenna did raise a good question. “How long do you expect to live there? It’s been ten years since I left. Do Pete and Patrick still live there? Do you guys still wake up and eat eggs, or wrestle in the woods, or hang out in the dining room? Are you telling me you never want to settle down and have a family or explore the world? How can you be okay with living the same day over and over again?”

“We don’t live the same day over and over again,” Josh tried to argue, even though he didn’t fully believe it. Jenna was right. He didn’t want to have his future kids live in in the woods, fearing for their lives because their father was an enigma. He didn’t want them to never see sunlight, or do the same things every day. He wanted a quaint house in the mountains, somewhere with easy access so he could take his kids to visit his parents, and ride their bikes, and--

“I don’t believe you. I’m just saying. If you ever manage to get out of the black market, settle down with a nice girl, or guy, or whatever, and be  _ happy. _ Don’t confine yourself to a makeshift prison just so you can live with people like you. Clans are overrated.”

Josh frowned. He felt even sicker now.

Jenna was right, and he hated it.

\---

This building definitely looked newer than the previous one. There was a crusty “For Lease” sign in the window, which Mikey was currently inspecting like it would reveal the meaning of the universe or something.

“What?” asked Dan, his brow furrowed as he made his way over to the blonde.

“Are you sure this is where Josh is? It looks empty.” He gestured to the sign.

“That would make it a great ploy,” argued Mark, “because nobody would expect people to be in here.”

“Not true. This is where drug exchanges happen. It’d make more sense for them to be doing stuff underneath a business already up and running.”

“Guys, please,” Tyler spoke up, eyeing them in annoyance. “We have stuff to do, let’s not argue about this right now.”

“There’s a fence too,” Mandy pointed out, taping one of the sharp spikes with her finger. It was one of those fancy, wrought iron fences. “Wonder what they’re trying to keep out.”

“Or keep in,” Vecchio muttered, reaching for the door. Not surprisingly, it was locked.

“I got this,” Mandy pushed Vecchio out of the way and gestured for everyone to step back. With an effortless kick, the door banged in, one of its hinges snapping completely off. She bowed, smirking, as Mark and Dan applauded her with a golf clap.

Tyler knew they were only trying to help distract him, to make him feel better and whatnot, but he found himself getting more and more frustrated with every passing second. He just needed to see if Josh was in here. If he was, then all would be good. Er, sort of.

_ You can face Jenna and be just fine,  _ Blurry whispered in the back of Tyler’s head.  _ If you end up needing help, you know I’m here. I don’t care about that bitch in the same ways you do. _

Right. Tyler was well aware.

“Okay, how are we going to do this?” Tyler’s father stepped in, his arms folded. Every few seconds, he’d glance at his GPS, probably making sure Jenna’s location hadn’t changed. “We going in guns blazing? We throwing stone pebbles at a glass window?”

Tyler took a deep breath. He knew what needed to be done. “I need to talk to Jenna by myself. She’ll listen to me. Mikey, Vecchio, Mark, and you,” he pointed to his father, “stay out here, just in case something comes up. I want Mandy and Dan to come down with me and hang back, just in case I end up needing backup.”

His father opened his mouth, probably ready to argue, but instead nodded his head in agreement. “Okay. We’ll let you know if anything changes.”

Tyler ran a hand through his hair. He needed to cut it all off after this. “Dan, you think you could do your Martian thing? Just to check what’s going on before we try anything.”

“I’d be honored.” He looked around the almost empty parking lot before deciding on a spot next to the fence. There he laid down and placed his hands on his chest. “Please take care of my vessel, I would very much not like to die today.”

“I’m on it,” Mikey promised, planting himself in front of Dan’s body. “Go for it, my dude.”

With a sharp nod, Dan closed his eyes, and everyone watched in anticipation as the light left his body. Tyler found himself chewing on his thumbnail, his foot tapping nervously, as he waited for Dan to return to his vessel.

He counted the days on his fingers. Josh had been missing for four days now. Four days was a lot of time for something terrible to happen-- what if he had already been sold? What if none of this mattered? What if he would never be able to get Josh back?

Dan came back hard, gasping for air as he sat up and dusted asphalt off his palms.

“What?” Tyler practically raced over to him. “What’s going on?”

“They’re definitely down there.” He pushed hair off his forehead and took a few more deep breaths. “There’s two of them. A blonde--”

“Jenna,” Vecchio murmured, gesturing for Dan to continue.

“And a redhead. They--”

This time, Tyler stopped him. “Wait. A redhead? There are  _ two _ people involved in Josh’s kidnapping?” He looked over at Vecchio for confirmation, who only shrugged in response.

“I wasn’t aware Jenna had a partner.”

“What about Josh?” asked Tyler’s father. Dan cleared his throat.

“Right. He’s definitely down there. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on; they have him bound, and he looks very sick, but neither one are speaking to him. There’s a...” He cast his eyes to the ground and sighed. “A human corpse.”

A collective  _ whoosh _ of breath left the group. Vecchio clutched at the sides of his head and took a few steps away, while Mandy backed up against the fence in shock. Everyone else remained frozen, still trying to comprehend what Dan had just said.

Tyler’s father only pursed his lips and pressed for more information. “Why?” 

“I dunno. Jenna is doing experiments. There were these weird, different colored test tubes.”

“But Josh is definitely down there… alive?” Tyler continued to chew on his nail. Dan nodded.

“Yes, Josh is definitely down there, and he’s not dead. Just very sick.”

Tyler let his back slump against the wall of the building. Josh was down there. Jenna and an unnamed redhead were down there. They needed to act fast. This was really it.

This was the end.

Mandy’s hand found its way to Tyler’s shoulder. “You ready, Ty?”

He looked up at her, watching as Dan stood up and joined her side. Around him, the others waited for his go.

_ Just you and me, bud. _

Tyler nodded. “I’m ready.”


	14. Captain Talentica, Civil War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a ton of things happen in this chapter, so prepare yourself. We're finally starting to wrap up some loose ends.
> 
> Also, there are only a few more chapters as I wrap this up, so thanks for sticking around this long. I'm sure most of you are bored of me by now!
> 
> And, as always, thank you [Seipapages](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Sepiapages) for everything you have done for me. This wouldn't even exist if not for you and your excellence. Thank you for helping me write as well <3

Josh could barely lift his head up, he felt so sick. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had fallen ill; sure, he had gotten the flu a few times, and the occasional cold, but other than that, he was healthy as a horse. Well, not anymore, really. 

The random human test subject Debby had picked off the street was currently slumped against the wall, unconscious, looking just as pale as Josh was. It seemed Jenna’s serum wasn’t working. Huh, who would have thought he’d be right?

The two seemed very stressed. Debby was continuously pacing back and forth in the small room, while Jenna had pulled her hair up and returned to her work.

“I could have sworn that would work,” she mumbled under her breath, reaching for an empty test tube, “I thought it would work--”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Debby responded, stopping to look over at her girlfriend. “It’s okay.”

“We were going to inject that in you,” Jenna’s voice shook, “I could have killed you. I could have--”

“Jenna! It’s okay.” Debby reached out to pull her into a hug and stroked her hair as she sobbed into her shoulder. “I’m sorry for stressing you out. Most of this is my fault.”

“No, it’s okay.” She pulled away with a sniff, tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ear, and smiled. “We have to give Josh to our client tomorrow. I just need to work harder, and then I’ll have it, I promise. I know I can do this.”

“I don’t want you to work yourself to death. I was being selfish, not thinking about how this was affecting you--”

“It’s okay, really. I’m not going to overwork myself. I just need to clear my head, change some formulas, and continue working.”

Debby grabbed Jenna’s shoulders and leaned forward so their noses brushed. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

\---

Tyler stepped through the busted door with his hands clenched in fists.  _ They’re downstairs. Just get down there, and let me have a few minutes of control…  _ Blurry eagerly whispered to Tyler as the group checked the rooms.  _ No,  _ he replied firmly,  _ we need answers. We’re not killing them.  _ Blurry obviously wasn’t happy with the decision, but he didn’t push it and let Tyler make his way to the top of the stairs.

“They’re down there. Let me get to Jenna and Josh. You two go after the redhead and keep things contained,” he ordered Dan and Mandy. They nodded. “I’ll deal with Jenna and get Josh out.” He knew he was probably taking things over his head and had absolutely no idea what he was going to say when he saw Jenna’s face again, but Blurry’s fire fueled his determination to get Josh and get out and finish this mess. 

After a quick listen to hear if there was anyone coming, the three started down the stairs. Blurry pressed against Tyler’s ribs in anticipation and with every step, Tyler could feel his muscles getting wound tighter and tighter. When the door loomed ahead, he glanced back at the two and prepared himself. 

_ I’m not going to say anything. I’m just going to subdue her and get Josh out. Talking comes later.  _

With a mental plan in place, he jerked his head toward the door, eyeing Mandy. She nodded and came forward to do her job. With a loud  _ crack,  _ the door flew off its hinges and into the room. Immediately, chaos erupted. Mandy threw herself at the redhead with a howl and Dan followed closely behind. Jenna’s blonde hair flashed behind the mess and Tyler steeled himself for first contact. 

“Hey! Get off me! What the fuck?” the redhead screamed. Mandy and Dan dragged her to the side with difficulty as she put up an intense struggle. 

Jenna was standing by a lab bench covered in glass vials and tubes and colors of all kinds. Josh was strapped to a chair a few feet away, looking paler than ever. He had no hair and his skin was slick and shiny with sweat. Tyler’s heart seized and fury surged through his veins. He reached Jenna in only a few strides and his fist made contact with her shoulder with a hard  _ thump.  _

“Oh, god, Tyler--!” she babbled, eyes wide. She stumbled a few steps back and crashed into the bench. “What are you--?” 

“You took him from me,” he spat. “You hurt him. I  _ trusted  _ you, Jenna!” His hands shook at his sides.

Jenna gaped. “Tyler, I never wanted this. We  _ need  _ him! You don’t understand!”

“I don’t understand?” Tyler almost laughed. “I understand perfectly fine. You kidnapped my boyfriend. You  _ shot  _ him. What else is there to understand?”

“I never shot him! Debby did!” Jenna’s voice broke. “She just--I never meant to hurt him! He… Of  _ course  _ he wasn’t going to come willingly. But we need him, Tyler. You never understood how difficult it can be for other people. You think you can just hide away and wallow in your own self-pity, telling people how they should live their lives. Life is  _ hard,  _ Tyler.” Jenna stood up straight and put her hands on the desk behind her. “It’s not fair. Sometimes the people we trust are the ones who hurt us the most.” Suddenly, she reached behind her and spun around to reveal a gun pointed directly at Tyler.

He had been about to interject, but the dark barrel that stared him down sent his words down his throat. Blurry laughed, but Tyler swallowed hard. 

“Jenna, come on--” 

“No!” Jenna cried. The muffled sounds of her partner’s struggle upstairs filled the silence. Her shout echoed in the room. She blew out a shaky breath. “No. I need this to work, Tyler, okay? I need Josh’s DNA so I can help Debby and we can be  _ happy.  _ You said you wanted me to be happy.” Her lip quivered and her hands started to shake. “Debby makes me happy, more than you ever did. She understands that I’m real, and my feelings matter.”

_ Debby…  _ So that was the redhead’s name.  _ Happy…?  _ Something clicked in Tyler’s brain.

“You love her.”

Jenna laughed. “Yeah, I do.” She glanced at Josh despite herself. “And I guess you love him.” He was slumped in his seat and not looking conscious by any means. Tyler’s heart leaped into his throat.

“Jenna, I know you don’t want to do this.” 

Jenna’s gaze snapped back to him. “Do what? I’m doing what I want and it seems you still can’t handle that.” She tightened her grip on the gun and pointed it at him again. Still, her hands shook.

“You don’t want to shoot me. I know you. I know you’re not violent. I’m sorry it’s come to this. Just give me the gun and we can figure something out.” He took a careful step forward. 

The gun didn’t stop shaking, but it didn’t move away either. 

“Jenna, please. We can--”

Tyler’s father burst into the room and made a beeline for Josh, followed closely by Mikey and Vecchio. As they rushed past the two in a standoff, Tyler tensed and watched Jenna’s trigger finger. They both watched as Josh was cut free and carried off. His body slumped over Vecchio’s shoulder, and it made Tyler even more furious. Josh looked like he had been through hell and back. What had they  _ done _ to him?

“It’s over, Jenna,” Tyler breathed. “Please. Just come with us.”

Jenna sagged and flashed a sad grin. “God, Tyler, you don’t get it. I can’t. We can’t just ignore what happened. I can never come back with you, and you can’t live forever in the same goddamn loop for the rest of your life. Josh doesn’t even  _ have  _ forever, don’t you know that?”

The words hit Tyler like a brick. “What?”

Jenna looked sad. “He’s dying, Tyler. After all of this, we couldn’t even get what we wanted out of him because his cells aren’t regenerating. He’s falling apart.”

“No.” Tyler trembled. “No, you’re lying. He’s in  _ limbo.  _ He’s not gonna die. He… He just…” 

Jenna shook her head. “I’m sorry, Tyler. I don’t even know how to help him. It looks like we’re both going to lose something we care about this time.”

“You won’t help him?” Tyler felt his fists clench. “You talk like you do only good, like you parade around with a crown on your head, because look at you, you’re a goddamn  _ princess--” _

“I won’t help him because I’ve done all I can at this point. He’s going to die, and there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m sorry, Tyler, but sometimes it’s best just to wave that white flag.”

“No.” He wasn’t going to believe her. “No, I’m not admitting defeat. I will do all I can to make sure you and Debby can have a happy life. I’ll get Patrick to find you guys a nice property-- it can be in Alaska, or  _ Japan, _ for all I care, if you just help Josh--”

“I know what I’m doing, but I haven’t invented a cure for dying cells. Didn't you think it was weird that Josh was the  _ only _ human to survive all these trials? Sure, his body didn’t react right away, but some things take time. Some things get delayed, take a long time to show up, to  _ change, _ but in the end, he’ll die too. Our mistakes always catch up to us. Humans aren’t meant to be transformed into talents. No creature is meant to be changed into another species.”

Tyler couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You can’t… What were you even going to do with him? Weren’t you going to sell him for science?”

“What our client wanted to do with Josh was none of our business. We were only in it for the money, and  _ not _ because of what you’re thinking-- I’m doing this solely for Debby’s wellbeing. We want a house, which you know are expensive in this day and age--”

“And this was your only option? Why not, I don’t know,  _ get a fucking job?” _

Jenna laughed bitterly. “Desperate people do desperate things. And it doesn’t matter anyway, right? Because our client isn’t getting Josh. We aren’t getting the money. And in the end, Josh is still going to die. In fact, you’re probably dying too. Nobody lives forever, Tyler. We aren’t Gods walking amongst men. We aren’t special, having superpowers.” She practically spit out the word. “You can’t pretend anymore.”

Tyler shook his head. He was done. It was time to figure out how he could make Josh healthy again on his own time. “We’re done here, Jenna. When you want to be reasonable, you come find me. I’m sure you know how to contact me.” He allowed Blurry to say a few words as well; it was only fair, after all.

Eyes blinked red. Jenna’s face went from being smug to straight fear once more.

“Listen here, you bitch,” he spat, “Tyler is trying to be a good person here and you’re making this harder than it needs to be. So have fun at your pity party.” With that, Blurry half curtsied and left the room, his hands deep in his pockets.  _ You want me to take charge for now? I know this stuff with Josh is... difficult. _

Tyler shook his head. He needed to do this. He was their leader, and Josh needed him. 

Before he had even managed to get all the way up the stairs, a loud, high-pitched scream came from the parking lot. Tyler scrambled the rest of the way across the stairs and skidded through the hallways, finally bursting through the back door to find a ghastly sight.

There was Mikey, draped across the top of the fence, with one of the spikes pierced through his stomach. Blood already soaked his shirt and ran down his arms; his eyelids fluttered, the life draining from his skin as saliva bubbled out of his mouth.

He dropped to his knees. No. No, no, NO-- this was the last thing he needed to happen. Tyler felt like screaming, crying, and punching things all at once.

“WHAT HAPPENED?” He bellowed, causing the group to jump. They looked away from Mikey’s mutilated body.

“H-he, tried to teleport, to go get D-Dallon, and, and--” Vecchio could barely get the words out, he was so frightened. Dan was gripping the sides of his head in grief while Mark had his arms wrapped around Mandy as she sobbed into his chest. Debby was nowhere to be found, and probably long gone by the looks of it.

“Okay, okay, gotta be quick,” Tyler scrambled to pull his phone and immediately dialed Gerard’s number. He felt awful, to be dropping this all on Gerard, but the older Way was the last remaining speedster in the building.

“Tyler, what’s up?” Gerard answered in his normal chipper tone. Tyler’s stomach sank even further.

“I’m sending you my location. Please get Dallon and be fast; Mikey is seriously injured and has no time to spare.”

“Wh-what?” Tyler could hear Gerard’s heart shatter.

“Hurry!” He hung up and punched in his location, sending a quick text to Gerard’s phone before rushing over to Mikey. The blonde looked like he wouldn’t last much longer.

“I’m s-sorry,” Mikey coughed out, “I d-didn’t t-think--”

“Don’t talk, it’s okay, you’re gonna be okay Mikey, okay? Just stay with me, Dallon and Gerard are going to be here really soon, okay?” Tyler grabbed his hand and squeezed tightly. “It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay, I promise.”

Mikey’s eyes started to close again. His breaths became more and more shallow.

“NooOOO!” Tyler’s voice rose three octaves in half a second. “Come on Mikey,  _ please _ stay with me, you’re okay, you’re okay, you’re fucking gonna be okay--”

Gerard arrived just then, with Dallon on his back, and Tyler was ready to drop to his knees and weep. So much was going on, Tyler felt like too little butter on too much toast.

“Oh my God,” Gerard’s face turned just as pale as Mikey’s. He didn’t move as Dallon rushed over to the younger Way.

“We have to get him off before I can even begin the healing process.”

“How the  _ fuck _ do you expect us to do that?” Vecchio yelled.

“Very carefully. Vecchio and company, I’ll need half of you to get on the other side of the fence, preferably the tall one--” Dallon grunted, his hands flying to his stomach. He was no doubt feeling all of Mikey’s pain right now. “We need to hurry. His life is draining...”

“No,” Gerard whispered, collapsing to his knees. Tyler quickly rushed to the other side of the fence, Dan hot on his tail. Together, they lifted the top half of Mikey’s body up so he was supported, Vecchio, Mark, and Dallon doing the same on the other side. The second they started sliding his body up, Mikey started screaming.

“Stop it!” Gerard shouted, “you’re hurting him!”

“It’s going to hurt, but we have to get him off! Come on Mikey, bear with us, you can do it...” Together, they lifted the blonde off the fence, trying their hardest to ignore his screams-- which was very hard to do. Tyler’s entire chest hurt as they laid Mikey down in the parking lot and Dallon immediately felt for a pulse.

“Dammit, Mikey,” Dallon murmured as he pushed up Mikey’s shirt and inspected the grizzly wound. Tyler had to turn his head to avoid puking. He would always admire Dallon’s incredible patience and his strong stomach.

Amidst all the chaos, Tyler noticed that Josh was gone. Vecchio had brought him upstairs, Vecchio would know where he was.

“Lou,” Tyler grabbed his shaking arm, causing Vecchio to jump a little. Everyone seemed tense at the moment and Tyler didn’t blame them. “Where did Josh go?”

“Your father took him to the hospital,” was Vecchio’s response. He didn’t look away from Mikey’s body.

Took Josh to the hospital. That didn’t sound like something his father would do, especially with the way Josh was; talents did everything they could to avoid hospitals in the first place. There was no way.

Tyler didn’t want to leave Mikey until he knew he was going to recover, but he also knew he had Josh to take care of and Jenna to deal with, who still hadn’t left the building. He had absolutely no idea of where Debby was at the moment.

“Dallon, how long is this going to take?” No matter how Tyler said that he knew it’d sound insensitive. Gerard shot him a look before returning to gnawing on his fingernails.

“Probably a few hours. If I can get him to a point where he won’t die the second I pull my hands away, then we can move him. A lot of things were damaged when he was impaled, and all of them need to be fixed. But he’s stable. He’ll be okay.” Gerard let out a large sigh of relief and flopped back onto the concrete. The rest of the group took their respective deep breaths as well.

Tyler hated to change the subject, but so many things were going on that he felt like he needed to take care of as soon as possible. “I’m glad Mikey is going to be okay. That’s... I’m super glad you were able to come fast.”

“Yeah,” said Dallon, “he had mere seconds of life left. Little Way is a trooper.” He cleared his throat. “Tyler, what’s wrong?”

“You mean, despite the fact that my ex-girlfriend is crazy and one of my best friends almost just died? A lot. Because Josh and my father are gone. Lou said my father took him to the hospital.”

That got Gerard’s attention, and he pushed himself up into a sitting position, still frowning. His voice was a little raw from the trauma with Mikey. “That’s gotta be a lie, right? We don’t go to hospitals. That’s like, a universal talent rule.”

“Exactly, especially with Josh’s, er, condition. He’s gotta be lying about that.”

“Call him,” suggested Mandy. Mark’s arm was still around her shoulders protectively.

“Good idea.” The phone rang, but there was no reply. Tyler called four more times before giving up. That was strange. His father always answered his phone calls.

“Nothing?” Mandy frowned when Tyler shook his head. Mikey let out another cough, causing everyone’s attention to be back on him.

“How you feelin’?” Dallon asked, flashing a small smile. Mikey barely lifted his head off the asphalt to look the healer in the eyes.

“I guess it’s good no one was around to hear me scream bloody murder, huh?”

Gerard scoffed, a fresh round of tears rising to the corners of his eyes. He squeezed Mikey’s hand and pressed a kiss to his brother’s forehead. “I love you, you idiot.”

“I think we should all be proud that this didn’t happen earlier in my life.”

“I think we need to lay off using Mikey as transportation for a while,” Dallon suggested, and the group wholeheartedly agreed. “Tyler, any contact with your father yet?”

“No,” Tyler mumbled, running a hand through his hair as he turned towards Vecchio. “Did he mention what hospital he was taking Josh to?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Vecchio replied, looking down at his scuffed shoes. Tyler’s stomach dropped. Josh was missing,  _ again, _ right when he had  _ just _ got him back.

He looked over at Dan. “Is there anything you could do? Maybe leave and look for him?”

Dan shook his head sadly. “Not really. Not without knowing where he went. Like I said before, I can’t really do anything besides get in and out.”

Tyler thought about it,  _ really _ thought about it. There was no way Josh was taken to the hospital. Where would Tyler’s father take him? If Tyler’s father got Josh all to himself, where would he take him?

His eyes widened. Tyler knew exactly where Josh was being taken. 

“I have to go right now,” he whispered, stumbling over his own feet as he headed towards the exit.

“Go where?” Mikey lifted his head a little higher and Gerard pushed it back down.

“Back to HQ, away from here.” Tyler managed to get ahold of his feet and began jogging.

“Wait! How are you going to get there?” 

“I’ll get a car!” He ignored the rest of the team’s yelling and continued to run. Tyler wasn’t quite sure how he’d get a car, and he definitely didn’t have a clue where he was going, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was getting to Josh; Tyler would run all the way there if he needed to.

The pound of his footsteps resonated through his entire body as he continued up through the seemingly empty neighborhood. Blurry made his presence clear by pushing Tyler forward eagerly; he too wanted to get to Josh as fast as possible.

_ Running is pointless,  _ Blurry muttered, his roar rattling Tyler’s ribcage,  _ Steal a car. We know how. We’ve done it before. _

That was true, Tyler had stolen countless cars. That had been in the past though, when he had been a wanted man; now he was changed, and--

_ For God’s sake Tyler, quit monologuing and steal a damn car. This is Josh we’re talking about. _

“Okay, okay, you’re right. I just gotta...” Tyler eyed an old, silver Taurus. Nobody would suspect anyone to steal that, right? He could avoid the cops--

_ If the cops come, I take over. We leave no evidence behind, kiddo. _

He blinked. Alright. It was go time.

\---

“Tyler, I am telling you, there is no  _ way _ your father would have driven all the way back to HQ with Josh without telling us! He took Josh to a hospital, I’m sure of it.”

“Lou, you know that isn’t the case. Quit being in denial about this. You know our species don’t go to hospitals because what is the first thing people do there? Blood tests! And you know what else?”

“Well, things are different with Josh!”

“You’re right! Things are even  _ worse _ when it comes to Josh! People would get suspicious, and--”

“At least they could get him oxygen, get him medicine, who’s to even say they would be able to tell he was a different species? It makes perfect sense, Ty. You’re driving all the way out there for nothing.”

Tyler groaned and slammed his fist on the steering wheel. Vecchio was pissing him off. “I appreciate you giving me the address and trying to do, whatever the fuck it is you’re trying to do, but I  _ know _ my father. I know what he’d do. So in the slight case I am wrong, you guys can search hospitals or continue to call my father or whatever it is you want to do.”

Lou took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, good luck. We’ll keep an eye out down here.”

“Thank you.” He hung up the phone and tossed it into the passenger seat. Tyler was about two hours away from HQ and sitting in afternoon traffic. He was getting more and more frustrated by the second.

Part of him was tempted to let Blurry take control and start doing some really illegal stuff, but the rational part of his brain told him how stupid that was. Getting in more trouble was the last thing Tyler needed to do right now. He just needed to be patient and focus on getting to Josh.

Josh. Beautiful, kind, on his last string of life Josh.

Nope. Tyler wouldn’t believe her. Jenna was lying, she  _ had _ to be lying; Josh only looked like that because of what those two had done to him. Once he got to Josh, Tyler would fix things.

\---

The minute Tyler pulled into the garage, he bolted out of the car and into the elevator. The front conference room was empty, but there were plenty of other rooms for him to check.

And sure enough, in the second to last room, was his father, looming over Josh’s pale, half-naked body like, like...

_ Holy shit. _

It all made sense.

“Tyler! What are you doing here?” His father jumped backward, sending the scalpel in his hand scattering across the floor. Josh’s breathing was shallow and his eyelids fluttered each time his chest rose.

“You. How could you?” His fingers trembled next to him and Tyler suddenly found himself having a hard time not punching his father in his face.

“What are you talking about?”

“You drove all the way back here without telling anyone. With Josh’s life on the line. And you didn’t answer any of our phone calls.”

“Well, service was spotty, there was a lot going on and so much to focus on--”

“Bullshit!” Tyler was a rubber band, stretched too thin, snapping painfully against someone’s arm. “That is such bullshit! Dad, how could you do this?”

“Tyler, it isn’t what it looks like--”

He burst into bitter laughter and tugged at his hair. “You were going to cut him open like some sort of sick science experiment. I know exactly what you are. You were Jenna’s buyer, weren’t you? You were going to buy Josh from her. You didn’t want to help us find Josh. You wanted to find Josh because he was already supposed to be yours in the first place.”

Tyler waited. Waited for his father to claim that wasn’t what was going on, that he had driven Josh all the way down here for some other reason. Because the truth was, Tyler didn’t want his father to have done any of the things he suspected him of doing. He had just _ gotten his father back. _

There was a long pause, and then his father sighed. “Yes,” he confessed. “I was supposed to buy Josh from Jenna and Debby.”

It felt like a dagger had pierced Tyler’s heart. Blurry began slamming his entire being against Tyler’s ribcage, trying to get out, trying to take control, so he could launch himself at Mr. Joseph and end his life.

“You have to let me explain though. Nothing about this is what you may think. I’m not Brent. I’m just a scientist, who had a great opportunity to look into the enigma that Josh Dun was--”

“Not like Brent, huh?” Tyler scoffed. Tears welled up in his eyes. “You’re right. You aren’t like Brent. You’re worse. You know what you are, Dad? A traitor. A fucking  _ monster.” _

“I’m not!” He tried to argue. “I wouldn’t have done anything without Josh’s permission, you know that. You were the only one in the way! In a way, I was saving him--”

“That’s what this was, huh? You had Josh’s fucking  _ permission _ to cut him open?” Tyler gestured angrily to Josh’s comatose state. “How could you betray me like this? You knew! You knew the whole fucking time where Josh was!”

Tyler’s father shook his head. “That’s not true, I knew where we were supposed to meet. If you just let me explain--”

“How on  _ earth _ could any explanation help your case?”

“You have to give me a chance,” he begged, clasping his hands together. “Please, let me explain.”

Tyler shook his head. “We don’t have time. If you--” He couldn’t believe he was about to go through with this. “Jenna claims Josh is very sick. If you... if you can prove she’s right, and help me save Josh, then I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

“You-- he’s sick?”

“Did she not tell you that? Oh, guess not. You wouldn’t want to  _ buy _ him if he was sick.”

“I wasn’t,” he sighed, “I wasn’t actually going to give them money.”

“You--  _ what?” _ Tyler found himself getting even more pissed off. That would have meant that Jenna and Debby had planned on selling Josh into slavery, had gone through all of that  _ shit, _ for them to not even achieve their goal.

“The plan was for me to meet up with them in a secure location so we could do our transaction. I’d write the check, a fake check, take Josh, and leave. I never revealed my identity so I could sever all contact with them. It was a perfect plan, really. And then--”

“No,” Tyler interrupted, feeling sick to his stomach, “No. We’re done. You have to help Josh now, before I bring out the big guns.” His eyes flickered with red, and Tyler’s father swallowed nervously.

“Okay. Well, uhm, there’s a chair in the corner. I’ll hook him up to a saline drip before I take a blood sample.” He moved to pick up Josh, but Tyler held out his hand.

“No, I’ll take care of it. You, just, do the science stuff.”

“Tyler--”

“Please,” Tyler whispered. He could barely stand to look at his father, and instead turned his attention to Josh as his father disappeared into the back of the room. Gently, Tyler ran his thumb over Josh’s cheekbone and pressed a kiss to Josh’s forehead.

He knew Jenna was right. Josh was sick. Anyone could see that Josh was sick.

Carefully, he shifted Josh into his arms and carried him over to the chair, setting him down gently, and adjusting his limbs so he’d be more comfortable. Tyler watched his father slip an IV into the top of his hand and pulled the saline drip closer to him.

Tyler then tore his gaze away and focused all his attention on Josh’s twisted expression. He was in so much pain. 

After Tyler’s father took a blood sample, he wandered back to the lab table and set it down. He sighed loudly. “Tyler, I’m so sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

Tyler leaned on his elbow as his other hand reached for his boyfriend. “We all thought we were doing ‘the right thing,’” he murmured, “that doesn’t mean it was right.”

His father didn’t say a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions? Comments? Concerns?


	15. Of Life and Josh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyy, sorry this update took so long to put up, school has been absolutely crazy. The good news is that I only have two general Ed courses left and then I can move on to my major-oriented classes!
> 
> As for updates for this particular story-- Things are wrapping up and heading towards a resolution, so there should be a couple chapters left. Thank you to all that stuck around and endured this. I appreciate you.

Josh was sick. Very,  _ very _ sick.

Jenna hadn’t been lying.

Tyler had been sitting with his head in his hands for five minutes now, trying to figure out what to do with the information.

“How long does he have?” He had asked, staring intently at the rise of Josh’s bare chest. His father sighed.

“Not long. Maybe about a week, possibly two weeks. There’s... I don’t know what we could do for him.”

“He can’t die,” Tyler whispered. “He-- that’s-- he’s too young, and we-- our life--”

“I’m sorry Tyler. I didn’t want it to come to this.” His father paused, bowing his head in a moment of silence. Suddenly, something came to Tyler.

“Wait a second.” He sat up and looked over at his father, fury building in his chest. “You did tests on him, when you guys were working on that cure. Did you...” Tyler couldn’t believe he was accusing his father of something so terrible, but it needed to be said. “Did you know he was sick?”

His father hesitated. Tyler jumped up from his seat, sending his chair spiraling to the ground below. The veins in his neck twitched. “You  _ asshole! _ You fucking  _ knew _ Josh was sick and you didn’t say anything?”

His coward of a father raised his hands in defense and took a small step back. “No! I, I noticed the abnormalities, but I wanted to do some more tests just to make sure! One test isn’t going to do much, you have to do many, because there can be false positives and stuff,” he raised his voice, “I wanted to do more! I wanted to see what was going on, but you said no! Josh was willing, but you--”

Tyler scoffed. “Oh, don’t you blame me for that! You could have said something,  _ anything, _ to Josh or me! We could have figured something out, and instead, he’s going to fucking  _ die _ because you are a fucking ASSHOLE!” This time, Tyler’s fist came down and hit his father right in the shoulder. His father stumbled back, knocking an erlenmeyer flask to the ground. Glass scattered across the surface, and neither one of them looked away from the other.

His father gripped his shoulder painfully. “Tyler, I’m sorry. I should have, you’re right. But there’s nothing we can do now, and it’s all my fault. There’s-- wait. There is something we can do.” With a deep breath, he straightened his posture and ventured over to a cabinet at the front of the room. There, he removed a small, silver briefcase stained with mud.

“The cure,” whispered Tyler. His father nodded.

“You wouldn’t be able to interact with him as well as he used to. In fact, he’d probably be weak and quite sickly the rest of his life. But his cells would start regenerating again. He’d live a good life, probably be more like Mandy than any of us, but that’s, that’s okay, right?”

Tyler tucked his head back in between his hands.

_ I wouldn’t be able to touch him anymore,  _ Blurry murmured sadly in Tyler’s ear. Tyler sighed.  _ I know you wouldn’t. I... it may be our only option here, pal. _

“Tyler, I’m so sorry. I messed up. What I did can never be forgiven. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was selfish. And my words don’t matter. But if you want to save Josh, this is the only way to do it.”

“Couldn’t you just make something else? Another cure, maybe? Anything?” A tear ran off the tip of Tyler’s nose. He reached back out for Josh’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Not in the time frame I have. Josh is going to die soon. This is our only option.”

“I... I need to think about it.” He was being selfish. This was Josh’s  _ life _ they were talking about, and Tyler needed time to  _ think about it? _

But he knew why. It was the same reason he didn’t want Josh to go through with it in the first place.

“Okay. I’ll give you the night. I should uh, go call Lou and explain what’s going on.”

Tyler looked up. “You’re going to confess?”

A nod. “I need to make things right. I just barely got you back into my life, and I, I already messed up. And I’m sorry.” With that, Tyler’s father left the room, leaving an eerie silence above the doomed couple. Tyler’s tears began falling more frequently.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to Josh, knowing perfectly well Josh couldn’t hear him. “I failed you. I was supposed to keep you safe, and I didn’t. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to keep you safe. We were supposed to be happy, and I ruined it. I know now why you...” a deep breath, “why you left. I’m so sorry, Joshua. I love you. I love you so goddamn much.” He pressed another kiss to Josh’s forehead. “I wish I hadn't been so stupid.”

\---

Early the next morning, Tyler got a call from Vecchio. He had stayed up all night, holding Josh’s hand, knowing that when the morning came, he would have to tell his father to give Josh that cure, and would never be able to interact with Josh in the same way ever again. It hurt. Everything hurt.

“How’s Josh?” He spoke softly.

“He...” Tyler glanced at his boyfriend through his eyelashes and sighed. “He’s not good. Not good at all.”

“Your dad told me. About what he did. I still can’t believe he did that.”

“Yeah. I can’t either.” He pawed at his face and leaned back in his chair, making a quick glance towards the door in case his father was about to walk in. “How is everyone else? Where’d you guys stay?”

“Mikey and Gerard knew some other talents in LA, so we stayed with them. Mikey needed to get some rest, per the instructions of Dallon, so we’re going to rent a car and drive back today. Will you be okay until we get back to HQ?”

“I’ll be okay. Did Jenna and Debby--”

“I don’t know where they went. We were a little too distracted with Mikey’s injuries.”

“Right. Well. I’ll see you then.” Tyler hung up the phone before Vecchio could reply and shoved it back into his pocket. He needed his father to get here so they could get started on helping Josh.

He waited patiently for a few more minutes before becoming antsy. Tyler stood up, walked around, ventured back over to Josh, and repeated.  _ Finally, _ the door opened, and Tyler turned around, ready to just about jump on his father.

“It’s about--” he stopped short upon noticing that it was not his father standing in the doorway, but Jenna Black. Tyler blinked. “Jenna?”

“Hey.” She gave a small wave, pushed her hair out of her face, and walked over to where Josh was lying. “I’m sorry. About what I said about Josh.”

“You really did know how to contact me,” he replied, a bit surprised she had found him here. Jenna laughed a little. 

“I’m very good at tracking people.”

“So I’ve heard.” Tyler watched her as she reached out and gently brushed one of Josh’s cheeks with her knuckle. A deep sigh of regret left her chest.

“I uhm, I was angry. But I don’t want him to die. I think... and it’s not for certain, because I never got time to test it, but since Josh doesn’t have a lot of time left, it can’t hurt to try, right?”

A pause. Tyler tilted his head. “What?”

“I... as soon as I realized Josh was sick, I stopped working on Debby’s requested serum. She wanted... a talent of her own. And at first, I didn’t want to do it, because that wasn’t the deal, right? We were supposed to collect Josh, house him for a few days, and give him off to our client. But Debby had different ideas. She felt like an outcast her whole life, being around other talents with powers. I guess it just got to her. And her and Josh used to date.”

“They did?” Tyler didn’t know that. He looked over at Josh and wondered what other secrets Josh was keeping from him.

“It was a long, long time ago. Apparently he just left up and out of the blue, and it really damaged her. She hates him so much. So much. She did everything she could just to terrorize him and he was so  _ patient, _ he dealt with it, I have no clue how he could have remained calm in the situation he was in. Anyways, I uhm, I worked on a cure. It should be enough for his cells to start regenerating, and pull him out of limbo. He’ll age, but it’ll take a while. I’d expect his life to be maybe about two hundred to six hundred years longer than everyone else.”

Tyler’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. And I looked into your, er, situation as well. I think your lifespan is just about, if not longer, as much as his.” Jenna opened her mouth to say more, but Tyler stopped her by extending his arm.

“Wait a minute. Did you figure... me out?”

A shrug. “That depends on what you mean by that.”

“Well...” Tyler took a deep breath. “People back home, well, Pete and Patrick, I should say, have this theory that I pretty much... can’t die. My cells are constantly dying and reanimating and blah blah blah, right? And we’ve never really looked deeper into it, because we’re all weird and pretty unnatural as it is, but I know my dad was going to look into it--”

“Here’s the thing, Ty. You and Blurryface, you are two separate beings sharing one body, right? Which means all your cells are in this... strange state of alive and dead, depending on who’s in charge of the body and the time, and who’s using more brain power, that kind of stuff. I’ve been looking over your case since we met, actually.” She blushed. “Anyway, that puts a lot of wear and tear on your cells, but because you can reanimate them after they’ve died... really it’s one big complicated process but I’ve figured something out at least. It looks like the more Blurry kills, the more your body needs time to recover from such a big... whatever. Same for if you go out and revive a bunch of dead things. I think as long as you avoid doing either, everything should play out.”

Tyler blinked. Okay, wow. That was a lot to take in. “Okay, sure.”

“So... you and Josh will get to live a long, happy life together. If the cure works. I mean, it should. It’s basically just a normal antidote, I made sure it wouldn’t like, dissolve in his blood, or anything...” Jenna trailed off, her face flustered. She ducked her head in embarrassment. “Sorry to geek out.”

“No, it’s cool. I uhm, I always liked when you geeked out. It was cute.” Tyler’s face was red now too. He cleared his throat and gestured to Josh. “We should make sure he’s okay. Do you know how to do that?”

“Oh! Yes. Yes, I can do that.” She spun around and headed for the lab table, already beginning to rifle through drawers. Tyler was quiet for a few moments, watching her move, her blonde hair falling gracefully over her shoulders. He really had loved her.

He knew he loved Josh more.

“We should definitely...talk about things,” he mumbled, ducking his head and rubbing his neck. Jenna nodded.

“Oh, yeah. Definitely.”

“Cool.”

\---

After Jenna checked all of Josh’s vitals, she cleaned the crook of Josh’s arm and felt for a vein.

“You sure you’re okay with me doing this?” Jenna asked as she paused to construct the vaccine. Tyler watched her.

“It’s either this or my dad’s cure, which basically means Josh will live out the rest of his days as a sickly, weak, mutated human. That’s not something I want for him.”

“Yeah, that wouldn’t be a very good life,” she replied, taking a deep breath. Jenna slowly pushed the antidote into the crook of Josh’s arm and didn’t let go until every last drop was inside of him.

They remained silent as Jenna leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Tyler looked over at Josh, watching his chest move  _ up and down, up and down-- _ already it seemed that his breathing was returning to normal. That was a good sign, right?

“Do you know where Debby went?” Tyler spoke up, disturbing the silence. Jenna cracked one eyelid open.

“No,” she said softly. “She’s called me several times, but I haven’t answered. I sent her a couple texts though, that she never replied to.”

“Does she know you’re here? Helping Josh?”

A pause. “No. Definitely not.”

Tyler sighed. “I really appreciate you doing this.”

“I shouldn’t have done what I did. I should have never brainwashed those humans, or kidnapped Josh, or even  _ thought _ about selling him on the black market...” Jenna scoffed. “I’m an asshole. I was so narrow minded, so  _ set _ on making Debby happy, that I didn’t see how it would affect others, especially Josh. He was so  _ kind _ to me Tyler. I don’t understand how someone in that position could be so  _ nice--”  _ Jenna froze up again, tears welling in her eyes, and turned around to wipe them without Tyler seeing.

“Josh is always so nice,” Tyler agreed quietly. He stole another glance at his boyfriend.

“I regret what I did. There were so many other ways I could have handled this money problem and I picked the worst one possible. I thought, ‘Oh, I’m a scientist, I can figure out what this terrible man did and sell his results on the black market easily!’ The strange thing is, I  _ know _ Josh doesn’t hate me, which is beyond crazy. He should hate me.”

“He’s a very good person. I don’t think he actually hates anyone.”

“Yeah?” Jenna sighed and looked back at Josh’s closed eyelids. “I’m sorry for leaving all those years ago. I should have stayed and helped you instead of pretending he wasn’t even there.”

_ Still a bitch in my eyes,  _ muttered Blurry bitterly. He had never been one for apologies, but Tyler could forgive. There was a part of him that would always love Jenna.

“It’s okay. I know things were bad. Countless times, I thought Josh would leave too. I  _ told _ him to leave, but he never did. He hardly ever listened to me. And the thing is, although at the time I was pissed at him for doing that, for putting his life on the line to help a stranger with massive issues, I’m glad he’s still here.”

“That should have been what I had done,” whispered Jenna sadly. She sniffed. “But I’m glad Josh could do what I never could.”

“I don’t hate you, Jenna. I don’t think I ever could.”

“Even though I kidnapped Josh?”

Tyler scoffed. “Well... I can see past that, if Josh can. I do want you and Debby to have a good life together. I was serious when I said I can have Patrick help. I know he’d be more than willing to-- he’d probably enjoy seeing you anyways.”

“Yeah,” she nodded her head. “That would be really awesome. And... thank you for being so patient and understanding during all of this.”

“The situation is pretty strange,” Tyler shrugged, “ but we all make mistakes, and we move forward. I don’t feel like this is something you’re ever going to do again.”

“No. Never. Once Debby and I head for England, I’m quitting that lifestyle for good.”

“Good. I hope things work out for you over there.” Tyler looked back over at Josh, who’s skin didn’t seem quite as pale in the short time that had passed. That was fantastic; it seemed Jenna’s antidote was actually working.

“I’m really glad we were able to have this talk. I’ve missed you.”

Jenna smiled, and suddenly, Tyler was whisked back to his early days when he and Jenna would spend all day in bed together. “I’ve missed you too.”

\---

When Josh woke up, the first thing he recognized was Jenna’s face. That was, of course, after his eyes adjusted to the harsh lights.

He felt sick to his stomach. Great, just great. He was still here with Jenna and would probably never be able to escape. Josh was doomed for eternity.

She flashed him a small smile and softly brushed his cheek with her fingers. “Hey there, kiddo. How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay,” Josh mumbled out, his voice a bit hoarse. He coughed a bit. “Actually, I kind of feel like I was hit with a bus.”

“That’s understandable. Do you remember what happened?”

“Uhm... no. Are we still in the lab? Where’s Debby?” Josh tried to sit up, and Jenna immediately pushed him back down.

“Don’t give yourself a head rush, Josh. A lot happened to you. You need to rest.”

“A lot happened? What are you talking about?”

Her smile grew bigger. “I think it’d be better if he told you.” Josh followed her gesture to his other side, where a familiar face stood. Tyler’s eyes glistened with tears and he chuckled lamely as he took Josh’s hand and kneeled by his side.

“Hey, love.”

“Tyler,” Josh breathed, letting his head  _ thump _ against the chair. “Oh my gosh, you’re here. I’m okay.”

“You’re okay,” Tyler agreed, pressing his forehead against Josh’s stomach. “I love you so much, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I love you too. I knew you’d find me.”

“Yeah,” Tyler sat up and moved to stroke Josh’s bald head. Tears still ran down his cheeks. “Hey, you have no hair.”

Josh’s face turned red. “Uhm.”

“That’s Debby’s fault,” Jenna stated, her arms crossed. “I’ll uh, leave you two to talk.”

“Jenna, wait.” Josh reached for her wrist to stop her from walking away. “Thank you. For everything.”

She nodded. “Of course. I’ll be back later, okay?”

“Sure,” Josh watched her leave the room before he looked back over at Tyler’s face. It felt like  _ years _ since he had been able to see his boyfriend,  _ touch _ his boyfriend, be  _ around _ his boyfriend. He could feel tears of his own welling up.

Tyler closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. “J, you were dying.” Josh didn’t say anything. What on Earth  _ would _ he say? “When we found you in Jenna’s lab, you... you looked like a corpse already. My heart stopped. I didn’t... I thought maybe, you were dead.” Tyler looked down at his hand that was still linked through Josh’s, and rubbed his thumb over the top of Josh’s hand. “She said your cells weren’t dying, but they also weren’t regenerating, meaning you just kept getting sicker and sicker this whole time. And when we got there, you were unconscious, and then we found out that my dad was Jenna’s client--”

“Wait,  _ what?” _ Josh actually did sit up this time, and sure enough, his mind stirred. He blinked a couple of time. “You-- Your  _ father _ was going to buy me from Jenna and Debby?”

“Yeah. Well, not really. He was going to pretend to buy you and then rip them off. He tried to justify his actions, saying he was only curious, and didn’t want to do anything Brent did, but--”

“All those times he wanted to do experiments on me. It all makes sense now.” Josh scoffed sadly. “I can’t believe he’d do that. I can’t believe he’d  _ betray _ us like that! It feels like...” a deep breath, “it feels like everyone is out to get me.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you home safe and sound and I’ll personally make sure nobody ever touches you ever again. Also, Jenna gave you an antidote, so now you aren’t in limbo anymore! And she said you’ll live upwards to six hundred years--”

_ “Six hundred years?” _ Josh exclaimed. “You’re kidding!”

“Yeah, and apparently I’ll live just as long, which means we can have a nice, safe life together--”

“Tyler, I want to move.”

“Back home,” Tyler finished before realizing what exactly Josh had just said. He immediately furrowed his brows. Joh wanted to  _ move? _ Where the hell did that come from? “Move? What are you talking about?”

“I... I wanna settle down, just the two of us. I want to get a house, and have a family, and--”

“Josh, where is this coming from? Are you suggesting we leave Home Base? Leave our family?”

“Do you want to live there our whole lives? Do you want to grow  _ old  _ there, surrounded by cement walls? I love you to death, Ty. I want to start a family with you, but I don’t want our kids to grow up living the exact same way we lived.”

Tyler sighed. Okay, that kind of did make sense. This wasn’t something Tyler had spent a lot of time thinking about. Did he want kids? Did he want to move? “I get it. I guess I have lived there a really long time.”

“I’m not saying we isolate ourselves from our friends. You’re right. They are family. But we’re in our thirties, Ty, and I think... I think settling down and having a family would be really awesome. I think we’re ready.”

“Ready to be parents?” Tyler was still frowning. “Josh, I don’t think I’ll ever be in the condition to have a child. If I... If I got angry and lost control, I could kill our own children--”

“You aren’t going to do that. I know you, Tyler. And I know Blurry, too. You guys work together now.”

“I dunno.”

“Can I talk to him?”

“Will you... will you still be about to touch him? If you’re still aging?”

Josh sighed. “There’s only one way to find out, right?”

“Josh--”

“Tyler. I love him just as much as I love you. You know this. The three of us are a team.”

A nod. “Okay. Just... be safe.” With a deep breath, Tyler tilted his head up and let his eyes turn red. With a roll of his shoulders, Blurry smiled softly at Josh.

“I’m glad you aren’t dead.”

“Yeah. I’m glad too.”

“Are you okay with me, actually, like... touching you? What if I kill you?”

“You won’t. I know you won’t.” Josh held out his arm and closed his eyes. “Go for it.”

Cautiously, Blurry lowered his pointer finger to Josh’s wrist. It hovered mere centimeters above his skin, out of fear, before he pushed down.

Josh cracked an eyelid open and began laughing in excitement. “I’m alive! We can still touch!” He immediately pulled Blurry into a massive hug. “How do you feel about kids?”

“I can tolerate them if you want them so badly,” he muttered, his grip tightening around Josh’s hips. Josh couldn’t believe how far Blurry had come since they had first met. It made Josh’s heart flutter.

“And leaving Home Base, you’d be okay with that as well?”

“I’ve always fucking hated it there. Living with just you, well, nothing would make me happier.”

Josh pulled away, grinning ear to ear. “Good. That’s really good. Oh jeez, are well actually gonna do this?”

“I don’t think Tyler is sold,” was Blurry’s reply as he let Tyler take control once more. Tyler sighed sadly. He couldn’t do it. He wasn’t ready.

“Josh, I don’t... I don’t know.”

“What are you afraid of?”

“I’m afraid of a lot of things. I haven’t been away from Patrick and Pete since I was sixteen years old, and it... it doesn’t feel right for us to leave, especially right now.”

“Would you at least think about it? Maybe we could even go look at some houses? I think... I’d like to live close to my parents, back in Ohio.”

Tyler opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Jenna knocking at the door. She smiled politely.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything important.”

“No, you’re fine.” Tyler stood up. It was better if they didn’t talk about this right now. It was just another thing to make Tyler anxious. “What’s up?”

“Uhm, your father is here to check on Josh. I explained things to him, said that I had made Josh a cure, so I think he just wants to check vitals and make sure Josh is not gonna drop dead the second the IV comes out. So.”

Tyler cleared his throat. “Right, right. That makes sense. I’ll uhm, go talk to him.” There was a moment of brief awkwardness before Tyler shuffled out of the room, leaving Jenna and Josh to be alone. He looked up at her as she made her way over to sit in Tyler’s now empty chair.

“How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thank you. Hey, Jenna? I can still touch Blurry. Does that mean I’m still in limbo?”

She shook her head. “No. Most likely it means that you’ve developed some sort of resistance to his powers. All this talent stuff is really difficult to figure out, but that’s what I’m guessing. Honestly, you may have even developed a resistance to all talents, who knows?” Jenna shrugged. “Anyways, your cells are fine now. I looked at a blood sample, so. You’re healthy.”

“Thank you for doing that. I really appreciate it. You could have left me to die, and you didn’t.”

“I realized it was wrong all too late. I’m just glad I was able to turn things around.”

“How’s Debby doing?”

Jenna shrugged again. “We haven’t been talking. I think she thinks I had something to do with Tyler and his buddies breaking into the building.”

“Oh, Tyler had other people with him?”

A nod. “Lots of people. They acted like they were the freaking avengers or something.”

“Dang.”

“Yeah.” Jenna smacked her lips and stood up from the chair. “Tyler’s father is going to want to talk to you, so I think I’m gonna head out. Uhm, Tyler and I are in contact, so, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye Jenna,” Josh waved as he watched her walk out of the room. Part of him still couldn’t believe that Tyler had broken up with her. She seemed like such a good person, and a thousand times better than Josh himself. Relationships didn’t all last, though. Josh had experienced that firsthand.

Mr. Joseph came in with a solemn head nod, Tyler trailing close behind him. Josh watched Tyler’s father closely, already nervous now that he knew what the so-called “scientist” did.

Mr. Joseph cleared his throat. “Glad to see you awake and well, Josh.”

Josh didn’t say anything. Tyler’s father mashed his fingers together before sighing. “Uhm, let’s uh, get that IV out of you, okay? And we can get you some clean clothes.”

As Mr. Joseph did his work, Josh remained completely still, unmoving, his chin held high. He refused to interact with someone who wanted to get their hands on him just as much as the rest of the black market did. It was really fucked up, what he did.

After Josh was freed from the grip of medical technology, he stretched his arms, surged heat throughout his body, and pulled Tyler into a hug. He buried his nose in the crook of Tyler’s neck as the younger man laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“Let’s get you changed, and then we can go home. Sound good?”

“Yep,” replied Josh. Mr. Joseph’s hand reached out for his shoulder.

“Josh? I just want to say that I’m terribly sorry. I regret my motives. I was selfish and narcissistic, and overall, a big idiot. There are no excuses for what I did. I just hope that someday you’ll forgive me.”

“I’m sure I will,” Josh murmured without turning around to face Tyler’s father. Tyler took Josh’s hand, and together, they walked out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think? Is it time for them to move, or would that only make things worse?


	16. Josh Dun and the Chamber of Decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. Sorry it's been ages since the last update. There are just a few things I want to say.
> 
> After I'm done with this, I'm gonna take a break from writing. Part of me feels like I've outstayed my welcome and my work is falling flat these days. I've just had this constant struggle to actually sit down and write, and it's been really unfortunate. At the moment, school is consuming me, I have to move apartments at semester because my roommates are terrible, and my depression is so bad that I literally have no motivation to do anything but stay in bed. It's a really shitty feeling, and I really gotta start working on getting out of that hole.
> 
> I hope you guys understand. Thank you for taking the time to leave comments and kudos and for spreading my works around. It really means a lot.
> 
> Love you all,  
> Sydney

Josh’s return was greeted with lots of love and support. Almost everyone wanted to hug him, tell him how much they missed him, how incredibly strong he was, and so much more that Josh found himself getting a bit overwhelmed. He really had missed his family; maybe Tyler was right. Would they be able to leave everyone? Would he have the strength to do that?

“I’m digging the buzzed look, dude,” Brendon grinned smugly, and Josh had a suspicion that Brendon was up to something. “Makes you look tough, and super hot.”

“Oh, thanks. That was to ruin my pride, or something.” He shrugged and forced a lame smile. “I actually hate it. A lot.”

“Hats will become your best friend,” Pete added, gesturing with a french fry. He shoved it into his mouth and smiled. “I’ve got experience in that department.”

“Good thing I have plenty of hats,” Josh said teasingly, causing Tyler to pull him closer. Ever since they had left the building, Tyler never once had let him out of his sight.

“I think you look beautiful,” Tyler whispered in Josh’s ear, pulling on his wrist. He was eager to be alone with Josh, down in his bedroom. Getting Josh downstairs was the hardest part; he kept being swept away by more and more people wanting to welcome him home. Tyler had to keep making sure Josh was doing okay, that he wasn’t in pain, or that his bones weren’t hurting, or that he didn’t feel like throwing up. Josh assured him several times that he felt completely fine.

And _finally,_ the two were alone at last, behind closed doors. Josh’s back was against the locked door, a smirk on his face as Tyler’s hands twisted in his tee.

“I missed you so much,” Josh said quietly, sliding his hands to rest loosely on Tyler’s waist.

“I missed you too. God, J, I was so scared. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Yeah. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen for a third time.” Josh leaned forward to give Tyler a peck on the lips before pulling away. His smirk grew bigger.

“Don’t be a tease,” Tyler scoffed, smiling now as well. “You sure you feel okay?”

“I feel fine. If I didn’t, you’d be the first person to know.”

“If you’re lying, I’ll kick your ass.” This time, Josh kissed Tyler passionately, and for the next five minutes, they were lost among themselves, hidden away from the rest of the world. Josh loved Tyler, and knew Tyler loved him. Nothing meant anything without Tyler at his side.

Tyler pulled away for a split second, his breathing heavy. “You wanna--”

“Grab a condom?” Josh nodded. “Yeah. Bedroom. Let’s go.”

“Are you sure you--”

“My dick still works perfectly fine, thank you. Let’s _go.”_ Josh pulled Tyler to his bedroom, and there, they made love, until they were sweaty, tired, and panting.

Josh rolled over to look Tyler in the eyes. He started laughing.

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing. I’m just, I’m so lucky I have you.”

This time, he smiled. Josh wanted to tell Tyler how beautiful his crooked teeth were, but the silence was enough for the two of them as they kissed once more.

Tyler wrapped his arm around Josh’s shoulder and pulled him closer so he could nuzzle his nose into Josh’s neck. “I can’t believe you’re back. For a while there, I didn’t think we’d be able to bring you home.”

“I didn’t think I’d be coming home,” Josh admitted, his voice soft. “I was preparing for the worst. I honestly thought I’d have to dig my way out of the black market.”

“I think you’ll be okay. I mean, there are certain aspects of you that no longer exist, just because of Jenna’s cure, and I think things will be different now.”

“You really think so? Because honestly dude, I don’t think things will be any different. People are still gonna look for me. I’m still going to have to defend myself. It’s just that now I know what to do in case of a next time.”

“There won’t be a next time--”

“Tyler.” Josh sat up to look Tyler in the eye. “You and I both know it _will_ happen again. The last time this happened, we said it wouldn’t happen again. We just need to be prepared.”

“We can amp security--”

“How much more can we do? I’m tired of being scared. I want to live life without being confined to four concrete walls.”

Tyler sighed. “That’s why you want to move, then.”

“I want to start a family with you. We’ve been dating for almost five years now, and I just, I think it’s time. We’re going to have long lives. We’ll live long past everyone living here. I want our kids to be able to see Dallon, and Brendon, and Patrick and Pete and everyone else. I want to have a garden, and visit my parents, and have more access to the cityscape. I just want change.”

Tyler didn’t say anything. Josh knew he was thinking.

“Tell me what you’re scared of.”

“Losing touch with the people who raised me. Hurting the ones I love. Being out in the open, with plenty of temptations and chances for me to slip up and kill someone. I’m scared of change.”

“You left once.”

“Yeah, to escape the hell my life was.”

“Exactly, you left _for_ change. This isn’t anything different. We can still visit everyone here. We can even live close nearby, if you wanted to. I just want our own space. I want a front yard, a backyard, even a pet, maybe.”

Tyler scooted up further in bed and glanced over at Josh’s face. He could see the hopefulness in Josh’s eyes; anyone could have at that point. “That does sound nice. I just, we’d have to take things slowly.”

Josh nodded. “Of course. I’d need to take things slowly as well. I want this to be the beginning of the rest of our lives together.”

Tyler smiled, a blush rising to his cheeks. “Is that your low key way of saying you want to marry me?”

“Maybe,” Josh grinned. Tyler clucked his tongue and rolled over to pull a small, velvet pouch out from under the mattress. Josh’s eyes widened as he watched Tyler dump a small, silver banded ring into the palm of his hand.

“I bought this three days after we brought you home from Brent’s,” Tyler admitted sheepishly. “You were still out with a fever and a bit delirious, but sitting there, watching you sleep, in a totally not creepy way, and that’s the moment I realized that someday, I was going to ask you to marry me. I guess you sort of beat me to it, but I have the ring, so.” He shrugged nonchalantly, a smirk still on his face.

“I guess we must come to an agreement then, if we’re both asking each other for a hand in marriage.”

“I do want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, too.”

“Cool.” Tyler was still blushing as he pulled Josh’s left hand towards him to slide the ring on. Josh admired it, tears brimming in his eyes.

“Holy shit. We’re engaged.” Josh laughed in amazement, causing Tyler to join in with him.

“Yeah, I guess we are.” Tyler leaned forward to press a kiss to Josh’s cheek. His hand intertwined with Josh’s tightly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

\---

Later that night, the two of them gathered everybody in the dining room to announce the news. Josh tucked his hands in his pockets to avoid having anyone see the ring.

Tyler cleared his throat. “Hey, everyone. I have some news I want to share with you. Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad, just some things I think all of you should know.” The group filled with murmurs, and Tyler shared a look with Pete, who had his eyebrow raised in suspicion.

Tyler nudged Josh for him to show off his engagement ring. As red rose to his cheeks, Josh smiled wide and said, “Tyler and I are engaged!” He held his hand out in front of him as the crowd burst into applause and loud cheers. Brendon pulled Josh into a tight hug while Pete and Patrick shook Tyler’s hand. Once the group had settled down, Tyler spoke once more.

“Also, uhm, Josh and I are, uhm, moving.”

Silence. It didn’t seem to quite settle with everyone.

Mikey was the one to break the silence. Tyler was glad to see how healthy he looked. “Moving?”

“Uhm, yeah. Moving.”

“Moving? Tyler, you can’t move. You’re our leader. What will we do without you?” Pete stepped forward, a worrisome look on his face. Patrick was holding onto his shoulder with an equally as worried facial expression.

“I wanted this place to be safe, to be a home for those that were lost and afraid. When I was young, I _was_ lost and afraid. But a lot of time has passed. I have been here a _long_ time, long enough to gather courage and face my demons. I’m not scared and lost anymore, because now I have Josh.” He reached over for Josh’s hand and squeezed. Josh smiled at him in support. “I’m not going to lie, there are some things I’m still scared of. I’m scared of being away from all of you. I’m scared of hurting the ones I love, if I ever do have children someday. I’m scared of being out on my own. Except I won’t be on my own, because Josh is going to be with me, and I trust him with my life. We just need, _want,_ our own space. We want room, in case we ever have a family. We want access to the city, access to our families. We want to see a life outside of this dark forest.”

_You did good,_ Josh whispered internally, causing Tyler to blush. He didn’t move from looking at the faces of his family. Some looked hurt, some confused, some indifferent.

“I understand that not all of us feel like we aren’t scared and lost. Some of us just got here. And I think that, yeah, this place should stay here to house those who are scared and who are lost. But, as we grow older, wiser, and realize that we aren’t scared anymore, then _that_ is when we should leave.”

Nobody was saying anything. Tyler glanced over at Josh nervously, fearing that maybe he had said the wrong thing.

“Are you staying close?” asked Alex.

Tyler nodded. “Yes. We’re just moving into the suburbs of Sacramento. And we can come back and visit anytime.”

“What about pizza nights?” Mikey looked ready to cry. Tyler smiled sadly. Mikey was one of his oldest friends. He would certainly miss that blonde butthead.

“We can still have pizza nights!” Josh cut in, taking a small step forward. “We can still even have mock fights in the field! Just because we’re moving into a house doesn’t mean we’ll never see you guys again. I promise we’ll visit at least once a week.”

“Make it at least twice a week and you’ve got yourself a deal,” Dallon cut in, his arms crossed and a small grin on his face.

Josh laughed. “I think we can do that.”

“When are you guys thinking of leaving?” That was Brendon. Josh couldn’t tell what he was feeling.

“Well, we still have to look at houses and find one that fits our preference. You all are welcome to join us, of course.”

“We wouldn’t pick the perfect house without consulting our family first.” Tyler looked around, waiting for more comments, but none came. He nodded. “Okay, then. I guess the meeting is adjourned. If anyone would like to speak with me privately, I’ll be up here for a while.”

The room grew loud as the group dispersed. Tyler was immediately bombarded with questions and pulled away from Josh’s grasp. Feeling a bit awkward, Josh scooted to the back of the room and sat down at a table. He looked around, suddenly feeling a bit sentimental. Josh would really miss this place. There were so many good memories he had.

“Hey, Josh.” Pete slid down into the seat next to him and crossed his arms.

“Hey, Pete. How are you?”

Pete shrugged in response. “Honestly? A little dazed. I can’t believe you and Tyler are... leaving.”

“We’ll still be close,” Josh argued, but Pete interrupted.

“I know that, but you won’t be _here_ with us anymore. I don’t think Patrick and I have even ever thought about leaving. We really like it here. I like being with everyone, as much as they drive me out of my fucking mind. I dunno, we’re like, one big family.”

“I understand that. You know, Tyler is probably going to ask you to be the official leader.”

Pete nodded. “Yeah, I figured. I don’t know if I really want that position, though. It’s sort of been one of my demons, especially in the past five years. I think it’s time to step back and let someone else take charge.”

“Who do you think should be leader, then?”

“Vecchio.” He scratched behind his ear as he glanced over at Lou, gathered around at a table with Dan, Mandy, and Mark. They were here to stay now, still ready to help at a moment’s notice, but now a part of the family. Josh would be forever grateful for their bravery and kindness.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I know I was a dick to the dude, but he really is leader material. He’d do an excellent job.”

“I think so too.” He looked around the room, at the people that had become his family. Josh sighed. “Pete, do you think people are pissed at us?”

“Pissed? I don’t think so. Just sad. When you live with people for a long time, suddenly leaving will do that to people.”

People leave all the time. Like, didn’t you leave your family when you went off to college?”

“Yeah, but--”

“How? How is that any different?” Josh wasn’t quite sure why he was getting up in arms about this subject. Maybe it was because he felt he had to justify moving. They didn’t think he’d be there forever, did they? Josh wasn’t even supposed to stay in the first place! He had run away! “Look. You all can be sad, but you’ll get over it. We’re leaving. We’ll come visit. It isn’t like you guys won’t ever see us again.”

“Sure. Everyone says that.” Pete stood up and smiled sadly. “Doesn’t mean it won’t happen. People get busy, especially if you two are planning on getting jobs and having kids. I’m just saying, don’t promise something you can’t keep.”

Josh watched him walk away, a pit forming in his stomach. Was it true? Would he be unable to keep that promise?

Of course not. These people were his _family._ He would do everything he could to see them as much as possible. Pete was just salty because he knew Josh was right.

\---

That evening, Tyler and Josh went into town for dinner. Tyler wanted to get out and away from the tidal wave of questions he was drowning in.

“I don’t get why everyone is acting so _weird_ about this,” Tyler said, wiping his face with his napkin. He set his steak knife down and stared uneasily at his half-eaten steak. “Like, I get it. We’re leaving. But it isn’t like we’re going to frickin’ Europe or Japan or something. We’re literally moving into town.”

“You were acting weird about it at first too,” Josh pointed out, pushing his mixed vegetables across his plate. He didn’t look up at his boyfriend.

Tyler groaned. “I know, but now that I’m like, totally in agreement with it, I don’t get why I was freaking out in the first place. I don’t even know why everyone is freaking out. I at least had a reason--”

“They do too, I guess.” Josh looked up. “I’m not trying to defend them, because I’m aggravated with everyone’s sad stares and shit too, but you have been there for quite a while, right? You started that place. You’re like, the backbone. Imagine if your spine got up and walked away from you.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow and scoffed. “It sure sounds like you’re defending them. It’s not hard to get another leader. I can ask Pete to step up, easy. He’s been there since the beginning too.”

“Pete doesn’t want to be leader.”

“Really? Did he tell you that?”

A nod. “He said Vecchio should be the new leader.”

“Hmm. That’s interesting.” Tyler clucked his tongue.

“What? That the one person Pete complained about and kicked out was the one he recommended to be in charge of the clan?”

“No, that Pete doesn’t want to be leader. Has he not wanted to be leader this whole time? Have I been pressuring him into doing something he didn’t want to do, because I was sick and demented?”

“No! Of course not!” Josh reached across the table to rest his hand on top of Tyler’s. “He’s been okay with it, Pete just doesn’t want to do it anymore going forward is all. He said he doesn’t feel worthy of it anymore.”

Tyler pulled away from Josh’s grasp and ran his fingers through his hair. It was strange, being that Tyler was the one with longer hair. Josh self consciously touched the brim of his ball cap. “Why does moving have to be such a pain in the ass?”

“I don’t know. But we can’t let the others influence our decision, okay? We deserve to be happy too. We deserve to have our own space, to have a family. We can still visit. We’ll still be close. They’ll get over it. We’re just... graduating.”

“Right. You’re right.” He reached for his steak knife and went back to eating his meal.  “Josh, do you think your life would have been better if we had never met?”

Josh frowned. “Why are you asking me that?” He noticed Tyler was staring at the engagement ring on his finger.

Tyler shrugged lamely. “I’ve been thinking about it today is all. Everyone is so upset that we are moving, and then I started wondering, what if I had never created this place? What if I had continued onwards with Pete and Patrick until I felt ready enough to be on my own? Would I ever have felt ready enough to actually be on my own? Would Blurry and I still be in one big constant power struggle?”

“I think you could have made amends with him if that were the case.”

“See, I just don’t know about that. Like, would me not creating this place somehow have a change on history? Would Brendon still have been kicked out of his home and become a prostitute? Would Jack have died because he had nowhere to be brought to? Would Dallon have committed suicide?”

“The way events unfold in life are a mystery to us all, Ty. I think these things would have happened still. I definitely don’t think that by you not creating this place, I wouldn’t have gone into the drug business. Instead of having a place to hide, I probably would have been murdered. So, to answer your question, no, I do not think my life would have been better if I hadn’t met you. The way we met, the way _anyone_ meets anyone, is through the series of choices we make. And I think you made the right one.”

Tyler sighed, smiled softly, and nodded his head. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Please don’t let the opinions of others influence your happiness, okay?”

“Okay.”

\---

They settled in that night, curled up under the covers of Tyler’s bed as they watched a movie on Tyler’s Macbook. Josh could tell that Tyler was still a bit upset from their conversation at dinner. His head was rested on Josh’s shoulder, but he couldn’t pay attention to the movie for the life of him.

With a sigh, Josh leaned forward to pause the movie. Tyler sat up, frowning.

“What’s wrong?”

Josh cocked an eyebrow. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

A sigh. Tyler rubbed at his neck. “You aren’t in any pain, are you? You aren’t pretending to be okay like last time?”

Josh thought about it. He definitely felt a lot better this time than last time, especially because this time not much had changed. He still felt a bit groggy, but that was about it. “I’m doing okay, honestly. I’m a little disoriented for sure, but I’ll take that over how I felt last time.”

Tyler scoffed bitterly. “Last time. I’ve let you get kidnapped twice.”

“Tyler, what’s going on?” Josh studied him closely. Tyler got in moods, sure, but his behavior had done almost a complete one-eighty throughout the day. He wondered if Blurryface had anything to do with it. “Is it Blurry?”

“No,” he mumbled, “I’m just... I don’t know. I feel like I don’t deserve you.”

Josh’s face fell. He reached out for Tyler’s hands. “Why are you feeling like this?”

“Every time something goes right in my life, I feel like I’m just waiting for it to go wrong. You, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I didn’t think I’d ever find someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I didn’t think anyone would ever want to spend--” Tyler choked and his eyes rolled up to the ceiling to blink away tears. “I didn’t think anyone would ever want to spend the rest of their life with me.”

A pang of hurt ran through Josh’s chest. “Oh, Tyler.” He pulled his boyfriend, his _fiancee,_ towards him and squeezed him tightly. “I know that sometimes things seem difficult. It happens to all of us--”

“You don’t understand.” Tyler pulled away and wrapped his arms around himself. “That’s not just it. Look, I’ve suffered my whole life, constantly fighting against my demons. Do you know how hard it is? How hard it is to constantly have to fight to be happy?”

“Yeah,” Josh nodded, “I do. Tyler, you didn’t know me in my early twenties. If you had, you would have run the other way. I didn’t give two shits about my life, or where I was going. In fact, I had made plans for suicide over four times. I ended up having to _force_ myself to get out of bed, to drag myself out of the terrible situation I put myself in. After I got away from the drug life, I turned my life around. I wanted to be sober, and healthy, and optimistic. I wasn’t always the way I was. Sure, there are people who are just _born_ happy, but most of us have to actually work achieve a life we are comfortable with. I’ve seen you put more effort into changing your life around than literally anyone else I’ve met. Just in the years I’ve known you, I’ve watched you turn from someone who was bitter and negative to someone who actually cared what the outcome of their life was. You are where you are now because you worked for it. Yeah, sometimes we get sad, and we get down on ourselves. That’s okay, because it’s part of being _human.”_ Tyler opened his mouth to say something, to which Josh realized his mistake and rolled his eyes. “Okay, sort of human. You get what I mean. All I’m trying to say is that I’m proud of who you are, and I wouldn’t want you any other way. I’m so frickin’ in love with you Tyler, that if you said you wanted to move to Russia, I would go just because you’d be there. I’m not leaving, so it looks like you will be stuck with me until the end of your life.”

Tyler still had tears in his eyes. He reached out to cup Josh’s cheeks and pressed a kiss to his lips. Josh planted a soft kiss on Tyler’s nose.

“I want to be married to you right now,” Tyler whispered. Josh smiled.

“Big weddings are overrated. Also, that would be super gay of us.” Tyler laughed as he wiped away the rest of his tears and sniffled.

“Can we go into town tomorrow? Down to city hall.”

Josh nodded. “Of course we can. The sooner, the better, right?”

“And for our honeymoon. I want to do it the old-fashioned way, like we buy plane tickets and go through TSA. No Mikey involved.”

“Do you have somewhere in mind?”

“I do.”

“Can we have hot steamy sex while we’re there?”

Tyler laughed again. Josh was happy to see he was doing better already. “Of course we can.”

“Awesome.” Josh leaned over to kiss Tyler again before the two settled back down into the mattress.

That night, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.


	17. Heeeeeeere's a New Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone. Here is the last chapter of the LAM sequel. I appreciate all the support, comments, and kindness y'all have left on this work and all my works. It's been a great couple of years and I couldn't ask for a better group of friends. You have been such a wonderful community to be a part of and I hope that we won't lose touch while I'm gone.
> 
> I will admit, this isn't my best piece of writing, but it took me like, a month to write it and come to a draft that I thought was okay. Thank you again for everything. You are the best <3
> 
> See you later :)

A couple months after Tyler and Josh had moved into their new home, they had everyone come over for a housewarming party.  _ Finally, _ the walls were painted, new hardwood floors were put in, and all the furniture was arranged in the exact way they wanted it to be. The couple was proud of their new home and excited to start the beginning of the rest of their lives together.

True to their words, they had gone to the state courthouse the next day after announcing the news and had gotten married right then and there. Everyone had a been a little upset at first, but quickly forgive the two when they released the lovers just couldn’t wait any longer.

As the days moved on, tensions amongst the clan began to diminish as everyone came to terms with Tyler and Josh’s departure. It began to make sense to everyone that the two wanted their own space to start a family. The others began realizing that it was something they’d want someday as well.

The Joseph-Dun household was on the outer edge of town, only a couple miles away from home base. The others were perfectly okay with that.

This was the first time the others were getting to see the finished home, and Tyler and Josh were very excited to see their family. It had been a while since they had been able to actually spend time with anyone for more than a few minutes at a time. After weeks of hard work, everything was finally ready.

Tyler straightened Josh’s tie and smiled brightly as he rested his hands on his shoulders. Josh turned around to observe himself in the mirror. The housewarming party was semi-formal, so Josh was sporting a pair of khakis with a dress shirt and tie while Tyler was wearing black slacks and a dress shirt with a few of the buttons undone.

“Do I look okay?”

“You look fantastic,” Tyler replied, sneaking around to press a kiss to Josh’s kiss. “I can’t believe this... all of this, is finally happening. Like, dude, we’re normal. We are living normal, boring lives.”

Josh laughed and he turned back around to face his husband.  _ Husband. _ The word was still foreign on his tongue and he still was in a bit of shock that he was married to the love of his life. “I feel like we’re the Incredibles.”

“Yeah, kind of,” Tyler chuckled, still smiling. “We’ve got our own bedroom, our own kitchen, our own goddamn  _ backyard-- _ you were totally right, J. This is nice.”

“I can’t wait for everyone to see it. C’mon, we gotta go make sure the front rooms are ready and make sure all the snacks are out and stuff.”

“Right, right.” Tyler followed Josh out of their bedroom and into the kitchen, where they set up platters of cheese, meat, and crackers, veggies with ranch, pigs in a blanket, and small bowls of pretzels and chips. Josh pulled out the pitchers of lemonade and water from the fridge and gave Tyler a small head nod when he set up plastic cups.

“Looks great,” Josh commented, crossing his arms over his chest. Tyler nodded.

“It does. It looks really great.” They shared a smile and busied themselves with tidying up until the first guests came.

\---

Brendon and Spencer were the first ones to arrive, greeting the happy couple with big hugs.

“We come bearing gifts of alcohol,” Brendon grinned sheepishly, slightly raising the twelve pack of beer he had brought. “Also, you guys have a pretty dope house. I might crash on your couch sometimes.”

“That’s why we found the most comfortable couch possible. Just for you,” Josh teased, tossing his arm around Tyler’s shoulders. Tyler rolled his eyes.

“Yeah. We definitely had you in mind when we picked out a couch.”

“Thank you guys, this is why you are my favorite.”

“I’m honored.” Tyler was still being salty. Josh narrowed his eyes.

“Let’s put the beer in the fridge and we can show you the rest of the house, okay?”

“Sounds awesome. I can’t wait to see your bedroom. You’ve broken it in, right?”

“Brendon, shut up,” Spencer scowled, flicking his boyfriend in the ear. Brendon whined and began pouting as Josh led the way into the kitchen. He continued to look over at Tyler, who still seemed to be upset.

_ Hey,  _ he thought, knowing a mental conversation would be easier than whispering or bringing attention to themselves,  _ Everything okay? _

Tyler looked at him out of the corner of his eye.  _ Fine. _

Josh didn’t believe him, but he sighed and continued anyway. “Alright guys, I’ll give you the tour.”

“I’m gonna stay down here and wait for the other guests,” Tyler stated as he shoved the twelve pack into the fridge. Yep, something was wrong. 

Josh only nodded. “Okay, sounds good.”

Upstairs, the first room Josh showed Spencer and Brendon was the master bedroom, which Josh thought would buy him some time to think about what could have possibly set Tyler off. He had been fine just a few minutes ago, what had happened between then and now? Honestly, the only thing that had happened was Brendon and Spencer coming in. Had it been Brendon that upset him? But... Brendon had never pissed him off like this before. Everyone including Tyler knew that Brendon was joking around 90% of the time.

“Dude, this is the most comfortable bed I think I’ve ever been in,” Brendon exclaimed. Josh looked over to find Brendon sprawled across his and Tyler’s bed with his arms and legs spread. He let out a guffaw and shook his head.

“Bren, you look like a starfish.”

“Am I an attractive starfish?”

“Obviously,” Spencer responded, grinning ear to ear. “Okay, get out of their bed, babe.”

Brendon sat up. “I’m gonna be completely honest here. I was really upset that you guys were moving, even when we were driving over here, but I gotta admit that I don’t think I mind so much anymore.”

“Brendon, there is no way Tyler is going to let you spend all your time here.”

“I know, I know. I’m just messing with you guys, don’t get your panties in a twist. Jesus.”

“Let’s just, uhm, finish the tour.” Josh gestured towards the door with his head and led the way down the hallway.

There were many more people in the living room and kitchen when Josh, Brendon, and Spencer came downstairs. Josh spotted Dallon, Pete, and Patrick, and immediately approached them without even saying goodbye to Brendon or Spencer. He’d go back and speak with them later.

“Hey!” Patrick and Pete exclaimed together as Josh pulled both of them into a hug. He then gave Dallon his own hug and stepped back to admire his friends, his  _ family. _

“God, it is so good to see you guys. It feels like it’s been forever.”

“I have to admit, it’s been really quiet back home without you. I keep going to check up on you and Tyler only to realize you aren’t around.” Dallon smiled sadly. “It’s taking awhile to get used to your absence, that’s for sure.”

“That’s true,” Pete added, “Vecchio is in charge now, and I gotta say, it’s weird.”

“Yeah, plus Tyler’s room is all empty and sad now, and we have no idea what to do with it.”

“Hmm...” Josh thought for a couple seconds, “maybe you could turn it into a pool or something.”

“A pool. Hmm. That’s actually not a bad idea. We’ll bring it up with Vecchio later tonight.”

“Is he here?” Josh glanced around the sea of people, trying to spot Lou. He recognized several other faces -- Keegan and Hayley, Alex and Jack, Mandy and Dan -- but no Lou. He frowned.

“Nah,” Patrick said, “he sends his love, but said he had too much stuff to do back at home.”

Vecchio was too busy to stop by and say hi? Ouch. “Oh. Okay.”

“Yeah dude, we know it’s lame. We tried to get him to come, but he turned us down. But hey, we’re here! And we wanna see the rest of the place!” Pete nudged Josh with an elbow. “By the way, where’s Ty? I haven’t seen him around.”

“Yeah, uhm, I’m not quite sure where he is. Maybe in the kitchen?”

“I wanna get a beer before we go on this house tour, so we can look for him in there,” Pete said nonchalantly, taking Patrick by the hand. He nodded towards Josh. “Lead the way, newlywed.”

With an eye roll, Josh once again pushed his way through the crowd and into the kitchen. He greeted several more people, beaming with happiness at all the friends that came to see him and Tyler. Well, Tyler seemed to have completely disappeared, so maybe just him.

He led a few house tours before deciding to go look for Tyler. He checked the backyard, where a couple of lightweights were already giggling and stumbling around drunk (okay, he’d snitch: It was Alex and Jack). Tyler was around, so Josh checked their bedroom, the office, the bathroom, and yet, still no Tyler. Josh frowned. Where on Earth was he?

He thought about it as he opened the front door and sat down on the porch. Josh hadn’t smoked since he was in his early twenties, but strangely enough, he had a sudden urge to feel the burn of smoke in his lungs. The convenient thing was that he would always have a lighter.

With a chuckle, Josh snapped his fingers and watched the little flicker of flames that appeared between his thumb and forefinger. God, was he having some sort of midlife crisis? Why did he suddenly feel like everything he and Tyler had done was wrong?

Josh had almost died, and if it hadn’t been for Jenna, he wouldn’t be here right now. The idea didn’t really mess with him too much, only because it definitely hadn’t been as bad as it had with Brent, but it definitely had messed up Tyler. Josh would wake up in the middle of the night sometimes to hear Tyler screaming. Tyler would always say it was nothing, but Josh knew better.

With probably his millionth sigh of the night, Josh looked up at the sky. He had come a long way in a short time, going from a loser nobody to a kickass superhero with the ability to light himself on fire on command. Josh snorted. It sounded stupid, calling himself a superhero like he was Spiderman or Superman. No, he was just Josh from Ohio.

Josh from Ohio who would live for five to six centuries. Jesus, that was a long time. He sank his fingers into his short hair and drew his attention to a line of ants on the walkway.

Tyler was probably hiding. Josh wondered if he was feeling lost too.

Then it hit him. He knew where Tyler was.

\---

Tyler was sitting on the ground in what had once been everything he had known. Now, it was vacant and empty, with nothing but a whisper of memories surrounding him. 

Josh leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. “Hey,” he called out softly. Tyler looked up and attempted a smile. He rested his arms on his kneecaps.

“Hey. How’d you know I was here?”

“I figured you’d go back to the place you felt most comfortable in.” Josh sat down next to Tyler on the concrete and crossed his legs. “What’s wrong? Everyone is wondering where you are.”

He chuckled a bit and starting picking at his pants. “I uhm, I panicked. I think reality hit me all at once. I don’t know why I’m feeling like this, really.”

“No, I think I understand. We’ve been going and going for the past couple of weeks without really being able to pause and reflect. We made a lot of big changes recently.”

“I thought it was the right decision, doing this. And I don’t regret anything, but I feel... strange.”

Josh raised an eyebrow and scooted closer. “How so?”

“Like... I’m married now. We own a house, a home, together, away from all the people I’ve been living with for over ten years, and it’s... it’s weird. I feel like I’m finally a stable adult. Like, for years I’ve been living day to day, struggling with Blurry, and the next thing I know, everything is okay and I’m  _ happy. _ I don’t know, I just feel like I’m waiting for something to go wrong.” Tyler sighed as he mashed his fingers together. “I know that sounds stupid.”

“No, not at all. I get it dude because I’m in the same boat. You don’t have to go through anything alone ever again, not with me here. I mean that.”

A smile. Tyler reached out for Josh’s hand, who squeezed his back in support. “I know that. I’m just scared I’ll lose you again. I... I keep having nightmares.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that,” said Josh sadly. “You aren’t going to lose me, Ty. I promise you that.”

“This time just... well, it really fucked me up. Seeing you laying there on your deathbed, believing I wouldn’t be able to save you... that was horrible. At night, I dream about you actually passing away, about me having to go to your funeral, me having to confront your parents and tell them that I couldn’t save you. It’s like I’m getting stabbed in the heart over and over again. The weird thing is, Blurry hates them too. He’s been so quiet lately that I think he’s in the same boat I am.”

“Wow,” Josh whispered with a shake of his head. “I’m so sorry. You know you can wake me up if you need to, right?”

“I don’t want to bother you.”

“Tyler, you are my  _ husband. _ You aren’t bothering me. No matter what you say, we are in this together. We promised to be together through sickness and health, until death do us part, and I intend to live by that promise.”

“How did I get so lucky? Honestly.”

Josh grinned. “I ask myself the same question every day. Fate must be real.”

“I guess so.”

After kissing Tyler on the cheek, Josh pulled Tyler to his feet. “Are you feeling any better?”

“Yeah.”

“Good enough to head back to the party? There’s a lot of people that want to see you.”

“Yeah, I’m okay now. Were people actually asking about me?”

“Of course. Pete and Patrick specifically asked where you were.”

“Oh.” Tyler rubbed his neck before reaching back out for Josh’s hand. “Yeah, let's go back. I’m ready.”

Josh led the way up the spiral staircase and down the empty hallway. Even though he knew everyone was over at his and Tyler’s new home, the quiet was enough to give him the chills.

Before they reached the exit, Vecchio exited a room and froze when he noticed them standing there.

“Oh! Hi guys. Sorry I couldn’t come to your housewarming party, I’ve been trying to pick up where you left off and figure out my style of leadership.”

“I mean, you could have stopped by for a few minutes at least, just to see the place.” Josh glared at Lou, while Tyler tugged on his wrist in a silent plea to not start anything.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to interrupt my work. I do wish you guys the best in your new future. I promise to take just as much care of this place as you did.”

“Thanks, Lou. I think you’ll do great. Make sure you take care of everyone, alright?”

Vecchio nodded sharply. “Of course.”

This time, Tyler pulled Josh towards the front door, bidding adieu to Lou. Josh grumbled under his breath.

“Dude, he was a dick.”

“No, he wasn’t. He’s taking this position seriously and I admire him for that. He’s going to do well, I know it.”

Josh sighed. “Yeah, I’m sure he will.”

Tyler smiled, and they continued on their way.

\---

Back at the party, Tyler was immediately swamped, leaving Josh to slip into the background. He nursed his diet coke and had a few more conversations before he found himself back with his husband.  _ Husband.  _ Josh still couldn’t believe he was married to Tyler. The thought alone was enough to make him smile.

“Hey man, how you doing?”

“Great! It was really awesome getting to see everyone again. Thank you for bringing me back here, J.”

“Hey, I told you. I’m here for you.”

Tyler nodded. “I know you are. And Blurry knows too.”

Josh smiled. “Good.”

He couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life with Tyler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they lived happily ever after for all eternity

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me at pastelxmess on tumblr so we can talk about things and stuff, or if you wanna yell at me or something!


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